Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine Paperback – March 15, 2022

This book is an excellent, information dense book. It has so much fascinating information about women's history as re the women's suffrage movement and medicine as an institution. It illustrates the very real fight for women to gain better educations that would both enable them to earn good wages. Women doctors would make moves that served to improve the lives of women in every social class. It also compares how women doctors were viewed and treated in America versus the UK which was quite different. The author pointed out many key figures in the history of establishing avenues for women to obtain MD's, gain experience and earn money as doctors. Many of them were quakers even though I also noted that none of the early female doctors mentioned were of this group. Women found it much easier to become doctors in the US, but were omitted from gentile society, whereas women doctors in the UK were welcomed in intellectual circles and high society. The early MD students received such abuses from the medical establishment in the UK that they gained a lot of sympathy from the general public. Politicians from the House of Commons supported their cause due to its popularity and it helped greatly that many of the poorest people benefited from the free and low cost clinics set up by these women as they were getting their feet into the profession. I believe that this would be an excellent source of info for anyone wishing to shine a new light on female trail blazers and how they effected change. Florence Nightingale deserves all support she received by the public for her contributions to healthcare but, at the same point in history other women were forcing the doors of the medical establishment open and arguably making far more wide reaching impacts on the health of women and their potential to earn money and free themselves from the patriarchy. Women who were less praised in their lifetime and more easily forgotten with the passage of time

As a student of 19th century medicine, I commend this book to anyone who wants to understand the 1800s in western culture, and women’s fight for equality. I would have given the book 5 stars, but it refers to the women by first name after they are first introduced. I found that confusing, irregular and condescending. If you can keep first names straight, you will learn much from this book.

Good read by the pool.

At the beginning of this book I was engrossed in the story and history of the first women doctors but half way through the story telling became dry and found myself struggling to finish the book. Great facts and lots of knowledge just couldn't keep my attention.

Well written. Unbelievable story of amazing women!

Good historical info.Gifted to a nurse.

This well-researched book features actual women in America and England who pioneered a path for women to become credentialed physicians. It was surprising to learn how much rigid Victorian social and cultural mores prevented women a path to practicing medicine. France and Switzerland were more progressive and represented the only path for American and British women to be educated in the realm of medicine, and wealthy women from those countries could obtain training in those countries, but could not receive credentialing in their native countries. The stories are told with some intermittent editorializing by the author, which was distracting and annoying for a non-fiction, historical book. Recommend for the factual information presented, with caution that this author also chose to bring gender relationships into the storytelling, quite “du jour” in the realm of publishing and entertainment media these days.

"Women in White Coats" is a fascinating and educational read. The author is skilled in his craft and did an excellent job researching and writing about women in medicine. These stories show that no matter the era, medicine is the 'good ole' boys club' and women still have to struggle to prove their worth and expertise to survive in healthcare. If you like reading about history, medicine, and a woman's place in history this is a must read.