Drawing on the diaries of a midwife and healer in eighteenth-century Maine, this intimate history illuminates the medical practices, household economies, religious rivalries, and sexual mores of the New England frontier.
A Midwife's Tale
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Ulrich's book is a moving account in an underexplored area of American History--the lives and economies of early American women. This book is a double triumph--Martha Ballard kept a detailed diary for almost three decades and Ulrich rescued the dairy from oblivion to create a luminous work of scholarship. This book was moving and engaging beyond almost any work of history I have ever read. Nothing else I have ever read has given me a better feeling of what it would be like to live as a woman in those days. What a triumph!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Perusing a personal diary (portions of the diary are included
in the book) which contain sentence fragments and short
descriptions of the day's activity, Laurel Ulrich's book,
"A Midwife's Tale: The Diary of Martha Ballard," is a
fascinating reconstruction in the life of Martha Ballard,
a midwife who, during the Revolutionary War, is
characterized as a feminist in her own right. By choice,
many women left their homes to join their husbands to help
fight the war; others were driven away by Brittish soldiers;
but Martha Ballard, unaffected by the War and American
Politics, resided at home with her husband, family, and
friends. Incredibly, Ulrich writes in narrative style that
Martha Ballard had performed in 27 years more than 800
deliveries in and around Hallowell, Maine, produced and
distributed drugs, prepared burials and dissections, at a
time when medicine was in its infancy. This is a true story
of a woman who had been independent, strong, and productive
throughout her life. In the environment surrounding
Martha's world, "A Midwife's Tale" also portrays a 'women's
community' that characterizes an almost perfect social and
economic ideal of their time. The winner of numerous
prizes, historians, history enthusiasts, and feminists will
find this 352 page book (not including endnotes and index)
a wonderful and interesting read.
in the book) which contain sentence fragments and short
descriptions of the day's activity, Laurel Ulrich's book,
"A Midwife's Tale: The Diary of Martha Ballard," is a
fascinating reconstruction in the life of Martha Ballard,
a midwife who, during the Revolutionary War, is
characterized as a feminist in her own right. By choice,
many women left their homes to join their husbands to help
fight the war; others were driven away by Brittish soldiers;
but Martha Ballard, unaffected by the War and American
Politics, resided at home with her husband, family, and
friends. Incredibly, Ulrich writes in narrative style that
Martha Ballard had performed in 27 years more than 800
deliveries in and around Hallowell, Maine, produced and
distributed drugs, prepared burials and dissections, at a
time when medicine was in its infancy. This is a true story
of a woman who had been independent, strong, and productive
throughout her life. In the environment surrounding
Martha's world, "A Midwife's Tale" also portrays a 'women's
community' that characterizes an almost perfect social and
economic ideal of their time. The winner of numerous
prizes, historians, history enthusiasts, and feminists will
find this 352 page book (not including endnotes and index)
a wonderful and interesting read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I had to read this book for World Civilizations II and it was definitely worth it. This book shows a new approach to defining past cultures. Ulrich does a fantastic job of pointing out the important facts and letting the not-so-important facts rest.
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4.1 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The delight is in the detail
This is one of the best history books ever written: I first read it about ten years ago when I lived in the States and I've lost count of the times I've dipped back into it since. Read more
Published on 29 May 2008 by Essex Girl
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspired me to major in history in college.
Ulrich's book provides a fecundity of specifics to a genre destined to be overgeneralized. Her excruciatingly detailed research and beautiful writing together create a book which... Read more
Published on 15 May 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
Martha was fantastic!
Martha Moore Ballard is my great x5 grandmother, to read the book and to view the movie was very moving to me. I am also in the medical field. I am a descendant of her son Jon. Read more
Published on 9 Mar 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
combination of diary and research
This book is impressive because of the way the author combines the diary and her own research to complement it. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 1999
1.0 out of 5 stars
Blah.
Thatcher herself said, on page 9, that "it is in the very dailiness, the exhaustive, repetitious dailiness, that the real power of Martha Ballard's book lies. Read more
Published on 3 Feb 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Midwife's Tale was interesting, but tedious.
A Midwife's Tale is chock full of fascinating facts about the life of Martha Ballard, a New England midwife in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
my neighbor over the fence
I found comfort in Martha. The coming and going of her days passing between my fingers with the turning of the page. Read more
Published on 30 Sep 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
This book provides a captivating look into the life and work of early american women. As a nurse practitioner, I found it even more interesting. Read more
Published on 9 July 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
Martha Ballard is an extraordinary woman of her time
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has done a wonderful thing: she has brought us a woman, a real woman who lived out her life doing what she felt she needed to do in a time that was full of... Read more
Published on 23 May 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fantasitc Book!!
I read this book when it was first published and it didn't surprise me that it won a Pulitzer's Prize. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 1998
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