Acknowledgments Introduction Part One: 1850-1890 1. "Hot Flannels, Hot Teas, and a Great Deal of Care": Emily Hawley Gillespie and Sarah Gillespie, 1858-1888 2. An Overview of Nineteenth-Century Caregiving 3. "Tried at the Quilting Bees": Conflicts between "Old Ladies" and Aspiring Professionals Part Two: 1890-1940 4. A "Terrible and Exhausting" Struggle: Martha Shaw Farnsworth, 1890-1924 5. "Just as You Direct": Caregiver Translations of Medical Authority 6. Negotiating Public Health Directives: Poor New Yorkers at the Turn of the Century
This is a breathtaking work in terms of its depth and its breadth. Emily Abel's research is impressive in its time frame, wide range of topics, and wonderful source material. What she has given us, for the first time, is a full-length study of the female support network, not only for childbirth but for a whole range of health issues. With her pleasing writing style and clear, readable prose, she gives us much more than mere glimpses of anonymous people--she provides the reader with a sense of the texture of human lives. -- Susan L. Smith, University of Alberta The reader of Hearts of Wisdom is surprised by the topic and content, but is left with the sense that the most central story of human possibility has been left out of all other history books. The work offers a substantive contribution to history, feminist scholarship, caregiving professions, and informal caregivers. -- Patricia Benner, R.N., Ph.D, University of California, San Francisco
Emily K. Abel is Professor of Health Services and Women's Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health.
This is a breathtaking work in terms of its depth and its breadth.
Emily Abel's research is impressive in its time frame, wide range
of topics, and wonderful source material. What she has given us,
for the first time, is a full-length study of the female support
network, not only for childbirth but for a whole range of health
issues. With her pleasing writing style and clear, readable prose,
she gives us much more than mere glimpses of anonymous people--she
provides the reader with a sense of the texture of human lives. --
Susan L. Smith, University of Alberta
The reader of Hearts of Wisdom is surprised by the topic and
content, but is left with the sense that the most central story of
human possibility has been left out of all other history books. The
work offers a substantive contribution to history, feminist
scholarship, caregiving professions, and informal caregivers. --
Patricia Benner, R.N., Ph.D, University of California, San
Francisco
This excellent historical review of female caregiving within
families as a transformative experience identifies conditions that
make this form of human connectedness rewarding and meaningful. --
J.E. Thompson * Choice *
Despite a growing population over eighty, public policy
concentrates on childcare and forgets eldercare. Emily Abel's wise
and heartfelt book powerfully evaluates this terrain by giving
carework a history. -- Eileen Boris * The Women's Review of Books *
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