Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend - Hardcover

Bostridge, Mark

3.76

205 ratings by Goodreads

9780670874118: Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670874116 ISBN 13: 9780670874118

Publisher: Viking, 2008

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Winner of the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography

The soldier's saviour, the standard-bearer of modern nursing, a pioneering social reformer - and much else besides - Florence Nightingale belongs to that select band of historical characters who are instantly recognisable. As the Lady with the Lamp, ministering to the wounded and dying of the Crimean War, she offers an enduring image of sentimental appeal, and one that is permanently lodged in the national consciousness. She has been honoured and admired, criticised and ridiculed. More often than not, she has been misrepresented and misunderstood.

In this remarkable book, the first major biography of Florence Nightingale in over fifty years, Mark Bostridge draws on a wealth of unpublished material, including previously unseen family papers, to throw significant new light on this extraordinary woman's life and character. By disentangling elements of myth from the reality, Bostridge has written a vivid and immensely readable account of one of the most iconic figures in modern British history.

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Review:

A compellingly authoritative biography ... Bostridge very deftly links Florence's restlessness to that of a whole generation of young women

Book Description:

Perceptive, engrossing, fascinating ... Bostridge is to be applauded [for] this highly readable and balanced account of an extraordinary woman

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