The Healer's Calling
Subtitle: Women and Medicine in Early New England
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: June 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 224
ISBN-13: 9780801438264
Subjects: History of medicine; Women's studies; Sociology; Medical / Nursing; Social Science; Women's Studies - History; Northeastern & North Atlantic states; United States - Colonial Period; History; Women's Studies - General; 17th century; 18th century; New England; Women in medicine
First sentence: MARY BRIGHAM WAS IN A quandary.
Description: "This book, the first to describe women medical practitioners other than midwives in the colonial period, emphasizes that medical care was part of every woman's work. The Healer's Calling uses memorable anecdotes, engaging characters, and excerpts from medical recipe notebooks to tell the fascinating story of the practice of household medicine in early America.".

"Rebecca J. Tannenbaum points out that housewives provided much of the medical care available in the seventeenth century. Elite women cared for the indigent in their towns and used medical practice to make influential connections with powerful men; "doctresses" or "doctor women," supported themselves with their practices and competed directly with male physicians; and midwives were crucial "expert witnesses" in cases of fornication, murder, and witchcraft.

Yet there were limits to the authority of women's healing communities, with consequences for those who overstepped the bounds."--BOOK JACKET.