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Per altres autors anomenats Wendy Moore, vegeu la pàgina de desambiguació.

5 obres 1,575 Membres 62 Ressenyes 1 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Wendy Moore is a journalist and author of four previous books. Her writing has appeared in the Times, the Guardian, the Observer, and the Sunday Telegraph. She lives in London.

Obres de Wendy Moore

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Data de naixement
1952
Gènere
female
Nacionalitat
UK
Llocs de residència
London, England, UK
Professions
author
journalist
Agent
Patrick Walsh (Conville and Walsh)

Membres

Ressenyes

I've always been a fan of the Hunterian museum. This book brought it and the man, to life. I share the obsession with all living things and while the idea of vivisection is repulsive, it is shared in the context of the times. A fantastic read
 
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cspiwak | Hi ha 24 ressenyes més | Mar 6, 2024 |
When other people make mistakes, it’s because they’re morons who should’ve listened to John Hunter. When John Hunter makes a mistake, it’s normal, that’s just what people were like then, they didn’t know any better, it’s okay let’s jus get over it and go back to insulting the other idiots.

Moore is extra reverent of her subject, almost insinuating that he can Do No Wrong! Even so, this book is full of a bunch of Cool Things. I almost wish I was John Hunter, except for the part where I intentionally inject myself with a chronic and fatal disease with no known cure.

According to this book, John Hunter was as influential as Forrest Gump. The most surprising thing is that he made it to the end of the book, even though he actually tastes body fluids in the dissecting room.
… (més)
 
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brutalstirfry | Hi ha 24 ressenyes més | May 6, 2022 |
Absolutely fascinating biography of both Thomas Day, his many love-interests and his brilliant social circle. I'm not sure what is more disturbing to me about Thomas Day's attempt to adopt an orphan child to raise up to be his wife -- that his society found this behavior eccentric but acceptable (to a degree anyway) or that so much of what we currently accept as educational theory grew out of the same ground. That's fairly inarticulate, but I really appreciated the wonderful depiction of an historical era that I'm fairly unfamiliar with, the straightforward narrative, and the somehow non-intrusive reality check offered by the author at regular intervals (remember, he's looking for someone to live in a miserable hovel and cater to his every whim, who wouldn't want that?). Ultimately, I think Thomas Day was a misguided sadist, but I'm fascinated that he was also an influential anti-slavery advocate and a man beloved by his friends for his virtuous life.
I'm glad that Moore took the time to flesh out Sabrina's story, and acknowledge her -- this is equally her story, and that is always apparent.
… (més)
 
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jennybeast | Hi ha 13 ressenyes més | Apr 14, 2022 |
Wendy Moore's The Knife Man is a favorite of mine, so I was delighted to discover this one about a couple of brilliant, intrepid women surgeons in England during WWI. Both previously militant suffragettes, Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray decided they would set up and run a hospital for soldiers in France - staffed almost entirely by women: doctors, nurses, orderlies, clerks, administrators. Women doctors - the few that there were - had every possible obstacle in their paths at that time: medical schools wouldn't admit them, hospitals wouldn't let them do clinical training, and if they managed to qualify anyway (abroad, or via the rare schools that did let them in), they could only practice in women's and children's health. Anderson and Murray - with no military surgery experience, and little experience even treating male patients - decided the need was too great, and they made it happen... with a success that astonished and converted even skeptical military officials. During the course of the war, in France at first and then operating a nearly 600-bed hospital in London, they treated 20,000 patients and fewer than one percent died. Gassed, smashed, shell-shocked, with hideous trauma, these men were put back together, massaged, fed, entertained, cared for... healed. Men asked to be sent to their hospital fpor its outstanding care and sent letters to the women who worked there for years afterward. It is an extraordinary story, deeply researched and filled with the details provided in the letters and diaries of the staff, medical and military records.

Then, the war was over. The Endell Street Hospital was asked to stay open almost another year, this time to care for the torrent of Spanish flu victims. And once that was done... it was business as usual. The medical schools slammed the doors shut again on women trainees, hospitals refused to hire them. Only after persistent and vocal activism were the women granted the same tax-exempt status as the male doctors had been given. The postwar secretary of war wrote a scathing letter to the Medical Women's Foundation, citing the "unrefutable fact that women cannot adequately perform men's tasks," that men will refuse to be treated by women (ask those 20,000 soldiers...), and their services are not and will not be of use in the future. Thanks a lot, Winston Churchill.

Some of the women went back to treating women and children, or found other "back room" positions in pathology or research. Some married. Most of them looked back on their years at Endell as the most exciting, challenging, and satisfying period of their lives.

It's a great story, and this book should serve as a significant reference in the history of medicine and The Great War. That said, for readers looking for a gripping read, this may not be your cup of tea - detail is voluminous and frequently repetitive. How many times must one use the phrase "patched up," or describe the nurses and doctors rousted from their beds in the wee hours, or the songs sung at the regular entertainments staged? Knife Man had a tighter focus on one individual, the eccentric, difficult and brilliant anatomist John Hunter; No Man's Land has a huge operation, a sprawling cast of characters, a global war and epidemic, and an era of social upheaval to cover, so it too is a much more sprawling and chaotic book. May not be page-turning bedtime reading, but an important book for those with a particular interest in its subjects.
… (més)
 
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JulieStielstra | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Feb 16, 2022 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
5
Membres
1,575
Popularitat
#16,392
Valoració
4.0
Ressenyes
62
ISBN
78
Llengües
3
Preferit
1

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