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The University of North Carolina Press
352 pp., 61/8 x 91/4, 7 illus., 10 tables, notes, bibl., index
Studies in Social Medicine
The Life of Marie Zakrzewska, M.D.
German-born Marie Zakrzewska (1829-1902) was one of the most prominent female physicians of nineteenth-century America. Best known for creating a modern hospital and medical education program for women, Zakrzewska battled against the gendering of science and the restrictive definitions of her sex. In Science Has No Sex, Arleen Tuchman examines the life and work of a woman who continues to challenge historians of gender to this day.
At a time when most women physicians laid claim to "female" qualities of care and nurturance to justify their professional choice, Zakrzewska insisted that all physicians, regardless of gender, should depend upon the rational faculties developed through training in the natural sciences. She viewed science as a democratizing tool--anyone could master science, she asserted, and therefore the doors to the elite profession of medicine should be opened to all.
Shedding light on the changes that radically transformed medicine in the late nineteenth century, Tuchman's analysis also demonstrates how Zakrzewska's activism is important to the ongoing debate over the relationship between science and sex.
"female"-- virtues of care and nurturance to justify their professional choice, Zakrzewska insisted that all physicians, regardless of gender, should depend only upon the rational faculties developed through advanced training in the natural sciences. Zakrzewska viewed science as a democratizing tool--anyone could learn science, she asserted, and therefore the doors to the elite profession of medicine should be opened to all.
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"[An] outstanding contribution."
--Journal of National Medical Association
"Tuchman's meticulously researched biography of Marie Zakrzewska makes a valuable contribution to the history of women in nineteenth-century American medicine. . . . The power of this biography lies in its scrupulous attention to the historical record and in Tuchman's talent for tracing intertwined stories of lives, relationships, and institutions."
--Journal of American History
"This thoughtful, informed, and highly readable biography describes an important figure in U.S. women's history and the history of medicine."
--American Historical Review
"Scholarly, engaging. . . . This superb biography, arriving at a time when comparing the brains of men and women is again all the scientific rage, is a welcome addition to the long debate over sex and science."
--New England Journal of Medicine
"This is a wonderful book. Marie Zakrzewska's life touches upon the most important themes in nineteenth-century medicine--science, gender, and politics. Based on thorough research in German and American sources and teeming with interesting stories and sharp analysis, Tuchman has produced a splendid and readable book while not compromising on complexity and nuance. Highly recommended."--Judith Walzer Leavitt, University of Wisconsin
Cloth: $34.95
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