The Doctor Wore Petticoats: Women Physicians of the Old West (Paperback)

by Chris Enss (Author)
Key Phrases: Doctor Anderson, Doctor Stanford, Native Americans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"No women need apply." Western towns looking for a local doctor during the frontier era often concluded their advertisements in just that manner. Yet apply they did. And in small towns all over the West, highly trained women from medical colleges in the East took on the post of local doctor to great acclaim. In this new book, author Chris Enss offers a glimpse into the fascinating lives of ten of these amazing women.

From the Back Cover

“NO WOMEN NEED APPLY.”

These four discouraging words of admonition often greeted female physicians looking for jobs in the frontier-era West. Despite the dire need for medical help, it seemed most trappers, miners, and emigrants would rather suffer and die than be treated by a female doctor. Nevertheless dozens of highly trained women headed West, where they endured hardship and prejudice as they set broken limbs, performed operations, delivered generations of babies—and solidified a place for women in the medical field.
Susan La Flesche, the youngest daughter of an Omaha Indian Chief, felt called to medicine when at the age of twelve she saw a woman die because a government-paid doctor was too busy hunting prairie chickens to help. Destitute divorcee Bethenia Owens Adair traded in laundry work for a successful medical practice. Flora Hayward Stanford, the first female doctor in Deadwood, was known to patch up gunfight victims and to treat the likes of Buffalo Bill Cody and Calamity Jane. With a determination and strength of spirit that resonates even today, these incredible women and seven others profiled in The Doctor Wore Petticoats are sure to inspire.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: TwoDot; 1st edition (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076273566X
• ISBN-13: 978-0762735662
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,299 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT CAPTURES YOUR INTEREST AND KEEPS IT..., December 6, 2006

By	JAYE DEEN NAVO (Grass Valley, Ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I picked this book up to read around 8pm in the evening. I didn't put it down
until I was finished reading it at 2:15am. Although I am able to speed read
this book was so interesting and entertaining that I couldn't miss a single
word. This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the Old West.
It combined humor, struggle and determination to give a very insightful and
educating book. The book gave a very vivid picture of female doctors in the
Old West. As a bonus it has a wonderful collection of "Frontier Medicine"
listed in the back of the book. Remedies such as carrying an onion in your
pocket to prevent smallpox and owl broth to cure whooping cough are just
a few. If you pick up this book...clear your schedule because you won't be
able to put it down until you have read every single page.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another GREAT book by Chris Enss!, March 24, 2007

By	Ingrid Holzman "Maryland Mom" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After reading Hearts West and enjoying it so much, I looked into other books by this author and discovered this jewel. It was an incredibly informative and interesting read. Chris Enss is a gifted writer. She gives the reader insight to a world that was so vastly different from that of today. After reading each woman's story in the book, I longed for more. That is my only disappointment; that I can't know more about each of these women Ms. Enss writes about. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in what life was like for women in the Old West.