Synopsis
This absorbing and illuminating chronicle of the life of a midwife in 18th-century Maine won the Pulitzer Prize in 1990.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1991-06-01 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Height: | 8.0 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 13.6 oz |
Publisher's Note
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.
On the basis of a diary, Ulrich gives the reader an intimate and densely imagined portrait of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard and her society--a portrait that sheds light on its medical practices, religious squabbles and sexual mores. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Industry Reviews
"Thanks to Mrs. Ulrich's imaginative talent, Martha Ballard's diary becomes a major source through which we can vicariously experience the rural life of early New England and reimagine the character of men's and women's economic and family existence. We can also gain fresh and valuable information about the practice of midwifery, infant and maternal mortality, the life cycle of family work, and folk medicine. The book even contains an appendix listing every plant medicine mentioned in the diary....Historians will, of course, read this story with a deep appreciation of the professional skills that have made an obscure source accessible, engaging and valuable; nonprofessional readers will be even more appreciative in watching with delight and not a little wonder as a truly talented historian, before their eyes, unravels out of those hard knots of recorded fact the fascinating life of a community that in its complexity is at once so foreign, and yet so similar, to our own. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wears her learning lightly and her prose sings."
New York Times Book Review - Carl N. Degler (03/04/1990)
"Along with its depictions of a strong and generous feminine society, Ballard's diary offers none of the stereotypical notions of female gatherings. It is devoid of cattiness or gossip....Fortunately, Ulrich uses only snippets of Ballard's diary to illustrate her point, rather than reprinting long passages from the often tedious journal....But ultimately it is Ballard's matter-of-fact voice the reader is left with--sharing a tale of spirit and community, a testament to the perspicacity and resilience of women."
Christian Science Monitor - Amy Brooke Baker (04/24/1990)
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