D'Antonio (Univ. of Pennsylvania) examines the roots of nurses' beliefs, values, and career choices beyond the traditional socioeconomic forces that serve as the usual historical scholarship underpinnings. She posits that people chose nursing because of the meaning and power that a nursing identity brought to their lives within both family and community and over a lifetime. She also explores regional similarities and differences and how concepts of race, class, place, and gender shaped nurses' identity and knowledge. Drawing on rich data sources (personal diaries, nursing alumni surveys, oral histories, and other writings), the author provides a fresh view of nursing development. In 19th-century Philadelphia, nurses forged a relationship with medicine in seeking medical knowledge while physicians sought knowledgeable women to monitor and oversee the beginnings of scientific medicine. The volume incorporates stories of the movement of nurses from east to west and vice versa, New York City and Utah nurses, and both white and African American nurses in Georgia and North Carolina. The summary helps demonstrate how nursing has contributed to its members' independence and life value. Finally, a comprehensive essay on sources outlines major historical research and writings about nurses and nursing. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. L. K. Strodtman University of Michigan

Focusing on the latter half of the 19th century to the immediate post-World War II period, D'Antonio (associate director, Barbara Bates Ctr. for the Study of the History of Nursing, Univ. of Pennsylvania) discusses the inspiration of Florence Nightingale that led to the emergence of professional nursing. She documents how nursing, originally viewed as a new career opportunity for middle-class white women, slowly and painfully achieved a measure of racial integration and gender diversity. The rise of public health nursing and the transformation of nursing education from hospital-based training to university degree programs are also covered. Most of all, D'Antonio enlightens her readers on the personal lives of individual nurses. Often moving from a challenging workload to full-time family responsibilities, nurses struggled to gain community respect, establish positive working relationships with physicians, and achieve salaries appropriate to their physically demanding and stressful jobs. Because of D'Antonio's decision to focus on nursing's first century, the book's title claims a bit too much. Significant recent issues such as the rise of nursing homes and assisted living and the increasing prominence of nurse practitioners are unfortunately omitted. VERDICT D'Antonio writes for a scholarly audience, making the book appropriate for academic and professional libraries that can afford its steep price.-Kathy Arsenault, St. Petersburg, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.