Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale

I thought this was a wonderful biography about Florence Nightingale. I've wanted to read a book about her for the longest time, and I found the information about her upbringing and her relationship with her parents and her sister very informative. I cannot imagine being a woman back in those times. If you were poor, you worked hard and you died, often in childbirth. If you were wealthy you were severely limited in what you could do in your life in Victorian England. Florence Nightingale bucked the trend of being useless commodity. She wanted to do something with her life, and in spite of her parents and her sister, and the norms of society, she went ahead and did her own thing. She proved everyone wrong about women were capable of doing....and I'm very grateful that she did so. This book talks about the mentality of the British Army and the awful condition of the men in the Crimea before Nightingale went out there.My only complaint about the book was a little too obvious preaching concerning feminism. It wasn't needed...the story itself made the point concerning women.A really good read, I enjoyed it a lot and it went quickly...

This book although tedious at times, due to the language and writing style of the Victorian era is one of the very best and most complete coverage of the era, people's mindset, its culture, politics and the status of women. Florence Nightingale's life is fully studied as well as her family and ancestors who influenced her and shaped her to become the woman she was. It is a story of the development of nursing and medical care or lack of at the time. She experienced first hand the poor condition of the soldiers and the difference that could be made through sanitation and cleanliness. She had many pit falls and obstacles to overcome but through diplomacy and hands on example she overcame them. Very fascinating book and wonderful biography of the times and the woman who so influenced by her example, the changing times in patient care.

This book is the encyclopedia of all things Florence Nightingale. It covers her lifestory from birth until her death. The author covers her life span with the greatestof detail and information. You could really get into Florence's mind and understandwhy she chose to stay single and what the driving force of her life was. I loved thatshe had 6 Persian cats and she made them indoor cats with probably the first litterboxes ever. She was a caring person of all of whom she came in contact with. She usedher station in life to really make a difference to common people. She was the firstreal nurse in history and went on to start Nursing Schools in England with her ownmoney and expertise. She is my heroine and I plan I naming my next female kitten,Florence Nightingale. She persevered all throughout her life against stupid men.She was the original pioneer for women's rights. I wish I could have met her. She isright up there with Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross. I wonder if theyever met. They were a lot alike in the nursing field and going against the norms ofthe day with regard to women and nursing.

A little too chatty and contrived, and the author really needs to work on not personalizing conclusions and opinions so much. The constant "I think Florence" or "I feel Florence" is a bit much. Leave that kind of writing to your blog please.Other than that, a decent book, little bit of protesting too much when it comes to Nightingale's sexual proclivity, and again, personal opinions shouldn't be presented so strongly in what is attempted to be a scholarly examination, it causes the credibility to take a bit of a dive.Light, fluffy history writing for anyone that wants to read about Nightingale in a way that won't tax your brain. Don't worry about drawing conclusions, the author has done that all for you.

This autobiography of Florence Nightingale was informative and exciting. She was a unique woman who stood against the conventions of her time to make an extraordinary contribution to public health. The book gave Florence's story IN THE CONTEXT of the Victorian era. Florence went against the expectation of her parents that she would make a good marriage to ensure her own future. She created nursing as a career for "decent" women rather than for the lowest levels of her society. She was one of the first to collect statistics about public health and use them to influence the British parliament to improve conditions for the Army.The book was detailed and some friends have found it slow, but I was completely fascinated. As a Jane Austin fan, this book about Florence and her family and the times she lived in rounded out my picture of Victorian England.. Florence was a fascinating, uniquely talented woman raised in a talented and fascinating family, and this is a good read.

This book is phenomenal! I had no knowledge of Florence Nightingale except what I learnt in school (and nothing whatsoever of her family) - and this book was a revelation!! The care and reverence the author had for the subject is revealed by the fact that the book is cohesive, rational and very consious about the time in which the subject lived in (as it is very important not to dispense modern day sentiments on 19th century lives and morals).I was interested in this book mainly because it was by Gill whose biography of Victoria and Albert I wanted to buy (and have bought since then) but this book ended up being a gem of its own! I could not lay this book down for a whole week as I crammed it during late night marathon reading sessions and yet I could never skip over a page or a word and reread many sections.It is definitely a keeper - as it also makes excellent reference book. The amount of foot notes in this book is incredible - I have to read the book second time slowly along with the notes.

A detailed biography -very readable-very informative about a very interesting character.

This book gives a great background to nursing today. It was good to read the story of where it all started. I would recommend it to any nurse, and others it in the medical field. E