Customer Reviews

Dr. Mary Walker: The Little Lady in Pants. (Women in America: from colonial times to the 20th century)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
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I have been looking for this book for years! It is a wonderfully detailed biography about a very fascinating person of whom little is written in books.. Mr. Snyder's bibliography is almost all from contemporary accounts of Mary Walker's life. I was afraid Mary Walker was in danger of being lost to history, but am so glad the book is available! She emerges from the book as a wonderfully complex individual who "did her own thing" long before it was really possible for women.... idealistic on the one hand and impossibly hard to get along with on the other! One of the first women doctors, Civil War heroine, women's dress reformer, published author, on the public speaking circuit in Europe and the US.... and sometimes she DOES sound like a bit of a crank, bless her heart! As far as I know, this is the most comprehensive book on her life, a life that deserves to be remembered!

Snyder's book is the defining literature on Mary Walker. Any article or book subsequent to this publication reference it heavily. It is unfortunate that there are not more books about this revolutionary feminist, but Snyder presents a well-balanced look at her life. Unfortunately, he does not spend a lot of time examining her Civil War work, nor her numerous publications, but tends to concentrate more on her post War life.

I was born is Oswego, NY and grew up in the Town of Oswego. I was doing my family history and found next to my relatives in the Rural Cemetery near Bunker Hill, The Walker Family plot. There is a wonderful white picket fence around Mary's grave along with an American Flag and a wonderful plaque to a wonderful women.Mary's sister married one of my relatives and I feel a closeness to her and her life story. She is a true example to the women of today. She was a century ahead of her time, but she stuck to her guns and she changed the world.
I am awaiting the delivery of this book..

This book was well written for as far as it went. It did not cover very much outside of her Civil War period. Could have been more comprehensive.

Once I began reading about Dr. Mary Walker I could not put the book down. This is a rare find.