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No Man's Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain’s Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I
Discover the true story of two pioneering suffragette doctors who transformed modern medicine, raised standards for patient care, and shattered social expectations for women in WWI-era London.
A month after war broke out in 1914, doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson set out for Paris, where they opened a hospital in a luxury hotel and treated hundreds of casualties plucked from France's battlefields. Although, prior to the war, female doctors were restricted to treating women and children, Flora and Louisa's work was so successful that the British Army asked them to set up a hospital in the heart of London. Nicknamed the Suffragettes' Hospital, Endell Street soon became known for its lifesaving treatments and lively atmosphere.
In No Man's Land, Wendy Moore illuminates this turbulent moment when women were, for the first time, allowed to operate on men. Their fortitude and brilliance serve as powerful reminders of what women can achieve against all odds.
A month after war broke out in 1914, doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson set out for Paris, where they opened a hospital in a luxury hotel and treated hundreds of casualties plucked from France's battlefields. Although, prior to the war, female doctors were restricted to treating women and children, Flora and Louisa's work was so successful that the British Army asked them to set up a hospital in the heart of London. Nicknamed the Suffragettes' Hospital, Endell Street soon became known for its lifesaving treatments and lively atmosphere.
In No Man's Land, Wendy Moore illuminates this turbulent moment when women were, for the first time, allowed to operate on men. Their fortitude and brilliance serve as powerful reminders of what women can achieve against all odds.
353 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2020
294 people are currently reading
7968 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Moore
34 books135 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Wendy Moore worked as a journalist and freelance writer for more than 25 years. She has always been interested in history, and as a result, began researching the history of medicine.
The Knife Man is her first book.
Wendy Moore worked as a journalist and freelance writer for more than 25 years. She has always been interested in history, and as a result, began researching the history of medicine.
The Knife Man is her first book.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 240 reviews
May 3, 2020
This is the story of the struggle by British physicians/surgeons and nurses for the right to an education/training in the field of medicine and for the right to practice their profession. Slowly they got to the point they were allow to care for women and children, but forbitten to treat men. World War One and the influenza pandemic changed their roles. This is the story of the all women run British Military Hospital called Endell Street Military Hospital.
Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson both physicians/surgeons went to France in 1914 with the British Red Cross and started an all women hospital for the care of all wounded. It was highly successful and impressed a few key British high-ranking officers. They returned to England in 1915 and built the Endell Street Hospital from an old building. It was the largest all women run military hospital. It was famous for being extremely clean (Florence Nightingale would have been proud). During the 1917-18 pandemic they had barriers between beds; staff all wore masks and gowns. The hospital was continuously scrubbed clean. Moore published a book called “No Man’s Land”, but I believe it is the same book under different title. I found this book fascinating. The treatment of not only the women in the medical field after WWI but all the women that stepped up and carried on the work was despicable, but not unexpected. Women may have been blocked again from an education or right to work, but at least they got the right to vote. I highly recommend this book. It held my attention throughout.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is fourteen hours and thirty minutes. Antonia Davies does an excellent job narrating the book. Davies is a British actress and audiobook narrator.
Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson both physicians/surgeons went to France in 1914 with the British Red Cross and started an all women hospital for the care of all wounded. It was highly successful and impressed a few key British high-ranking officers. They returned to England in 1915 and built the Endell Street Hospital from an old building. It was the largest all women run military hospital. It was famous for being extremely clean (Florence Nightingale would have been proud). During the 1917-18 pandemic they had barriers between beds; staff all wore masks and gowns. The hospital was continuously scrubbed clean. Moore published a book called “No Man’s Land”, but I believe it is the same book under different title. I found this book fascinating. The treatment of not only the women in the medical field after WWI but all the women that stepped up and carried on the work was despicable, but not unexpected. Women may have been blocked again from an education or right to work, but at least they got the right to vote. I highly recommend this book. It held my attention throughout.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is fourteen hours and thirty minutes. Antonia Davies does an excellent job narrating the book. Davies is a British actress and audiobook narrator.
February 8, 2021
3.5 stars
This book about an entirely female-run hospital during WWI reminds me strongly of A Woman of No Importance and Ashley's War: all three are highly readable books about impressive women and their wartime contributions, people and stories I’m glad to have learned more about. All three also feel a bit stretched beyond their natural length to reach the standard roughly 300 pages, with narratives of repeated or similar experiences, or in-depth chapters about relatively minor or unsurprising events. This book is extensively researched and sourced, so I don’t have the concern I did with the other two about unsourced thoughts and feelings; the author seems on solid ground with her narrative while keeping the story engaging. However, in turning it into a narrative the author presents the similar experiences of several different hospital staff, and repeated similar events, beyond the point at which any of this is new.
The book begins with Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson, two doctors heavily involved in Britain’s suffragette movement, which at the time WWI broke out was resorting to civil disobedience and hunger strikes. Anderson actually spent time in prison while Murray treated hunger strikers and possibly helped some escape the authorities. When WWI began, the suffragettes suspended activity, and the two women organized a contingent of doctors, nurses and orderlies to travel to Paris, where they set up a voluntary hospital for wounded soldiers under the auspices of the French Red Cross. Their success led to opening a second hospital in France for the British military, and finally to opening Endell Street Military Hospital in London (as well as several auxiliary hospitals), which treated wounded soldiers for the remainder of the war and the flu pandemic that followed. All the hospitals employed exclusively female doctors and nurses and primarily female orderlies, handling tasks that up till then the establishment had claimed women were unable to do, from carrying stretchers to treating venereal diseases and performing surgeries. They successfully treated thousands of wounded soldiers while losing very few, and their work contributed to British women finally getting the vote and to increased opportunity for female doctors.
I was glad to learn about this slice of history and found it readable and engaging. Moore relies in large part on the letters of various doctors, staff, volunteers and patients to paint a picture of the hospital, which gives the writing a personal touch. She also doesn’t hide the inevitable workplace conflicts, as some of the staff and volunteers found their bosses difficult, though on the whole they seem to have been a close-knit group united by hard work and shared purpose. There’s an uncomfortable truth here, in that the war—which killed approximately 16 million soldiers and civilians (not counting subsequent flu deaths) and left staggering numbers injured—was for many of the medical staff the time of their lives, offering the greatest professional opportunity and sense of purpose that they’d ever have, while making peace between previously warring elements of British society. Murray and Anderson pretty explicitly intended theirs as “the suffragettes’ hospital,” meant to prove the worth of female practitioners—which they absolutely did, while treating soldiers even softened their views on men.
Several reviewers have commented on the relationship between Murray and Anderson and the relative paucity of space addressing it in the text. That paucity isn’t the author’s fault, though: no letters between them survived, nor did Murray’s wartime journal, and Moore is up-front with the information she does have. The two were clearly life partners, and while Moore isn’t willing to say definitively that they were a couple in the sexual sense, that’s for good reason. While their relationship seems very obviously that of a married couple today (wearing matching rings, owning property together, etc.), this was not at all the assumption of their contemporaries. They lived in a society in which marriage was typically the death knell for a woman’s career, whether due to social expectations or explicit policies preventing the hiring of married women (which existed in abundance), and respectable middle-class women were hardly going to “live in sin.” As a result, professional women often cohabited in long-term partnerships with each other without being assumed to be lesbians. I’m still inclined to think these two were a couple even in today’s sense, but when analyzing history we ought to keep our society’s biases in mind, and we live in one in which any devoted, non-familial (and sometimes even familial!) relationship is assumed to be sexual. Other cultures, including theirs, allow a much wider scope to friendship.
Overall, I enjoyed this book; it’s a relatively quick read, and I learned from it and was impressed by the accomplishments of the women depicted. I don’t have much background on WWI and while this book doesn’t delve into the war beyond the immediate engagements sending casualties to Endell Street, it was still more than I knew before. Seeing how much technology and medical practices evolved in a few short years was particularly interesting. The book is perhaps a bit padded but certainly worth a read for those interested in the subject matter.
This book about an entirely female-run hospital during WWI reminds me strongly of A Woman of No Importance and Ashley's War: all three are highly readable books about impressive women and their wartime contributions, people and stories I’m glad to have learned more about. All three also feel a bit stretched beyond their natural length to reach the standard roughly 300 pages, with narratives of repeated or similar experiences, or in-depth chapters about relatively minor or unsurprising events. This book is extensively researched and sourced, so I don’t have the concern I did with the other two about unsourced thoughts and feelings; the author seems on solid ground with her narrative while keeping the story engaging. However, in turning it into a narrative the author presents the similar experiences of several different hospital staff, and repeated similar events, beyond the point at which any of this is new.
The book begins with Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson, two doctors heavily involved in Britain’s suffragette movement, which at the time WWI broke out was resorting to civil disobedience and hunger strikes. Anderson actually spent time in prison while Murray treated hunger strikers and possibly helped some escape the authorities. When WWI began, the suffragettes suspended activity, and the two women organized a contingent of doctors, nurses and orderlies to travel to Paris, where they set up a voluntary hospital for wounded soldiers under the auspices of the French Red Cross. Their success led to opening a second hospital in France for the British military, and finally to opening Endell Street Military Hospital in London (as well as several auxiliary hospitals), which treated wounded soldiers for the remainder of the war and the flu pandemic that followed. All the hospitals employed exclusively female doctors and nurses and primarily female orderlies, handling tasks that up till then the establishment had claimed women were unable to do, from carrying stretchers to treating venereal diseases and performing surgeries. They successfully treated thousands of wounded soldiers while losing very few, and their work contributed to British women finally getting the vote and to increased opportunity for female doctors.
I was glad to learn about this slice of history and found it readable and engaging. Moore relies in large part on the letters of various doctors, staff, volunteers and patients to paint a picture of the hospital, which gives the writing a personal touch. She also doesn’t hide the inevitable workplace conflicts, as some of the staff and volunteers found their bosses difficult, though on the whole they seem to have been a close-knit group united by hard work and shared purpose. There’s an uncomfortable truth here, in that the war—which killed approximately 16 million soldiers and civilians (not counting subsequent flu deaths) and left staggering numbers injured—was for many of the medical staff the time of their lives, offering the greatest professional opportunity and sense of purpose that they’d ever have, while making peace between previously warring elements of British society. Murray and Anderson pretty explicitly intended theirs as “the suffragettes’ hospital,” meant to prove the worth of female practitioners—which they absolutely did, while treating soldiers even softened their views on men.
Several reviewers have commented on the relationship between Murray and Anderson and the relative paucity of space addressing it in the text. That paucity isn’t the author’s fault, though: no letters between them survived, nor did Murray’s wartime journal, and Moore is up-front with the information she does have. The two were clearly life partners, and while Moore isn’t willing to say definitively that they were a couple in the sexual sense, that’s for good reason. While their relationship seems very obviously that of a married couple today (wearing matching rings, owning property together, etc.), this was not at all the assumption of their contemporaries. They lived in a society in which marriage was typically the death knell for a woman’s career, whether due to social expectations or explicit policies preventing the hiring of married women (which existed in abundance), and respectable middle-class women were hardly going to “live in sin.” As a result, professional women often cohabited in long-term partnerships with each other without being assumed to be lesbians. I’m still inclined to think these two were a couple even in today’s sense, but when analyzing history we ought to keep our society’s biases in mind, and we live in one in which any devoted, non-familial (and sometimes even familial!) relationship is assumed to be sexual. Other cultures, including theirs, allow a much wider scope to friendship.
Overall, I enjoyed this book; it’s a relatively quick read, and I learned from it and was impressed by the accomplishments of the women depicted. I don’t have much background on WWI and while this book doesn’t delve into the war beyond the immediate engagements sending casualties to Endell Street, it was still more than I knew before. Seeing how much technology and medical practices evolved in a few short years was particularly interesting. The book is perhaps a bit padded but certainly worth a read for those interested in the subject matter.
January 19, 2022
Thoughts soon.
February 2, 2020
I won this book in the goodreads giveaway. Being a nurse I was very interested in the war/medical aspects of this book. I believe in women being equal to men doctors. I was rather surprised to find the violence used by the women's groups to obtain their end of equality. It should be noted to other readers that the 2 lead characters the book focuses on are Lesbians. As I said I am more interested in the war & the medical aspects so this book was not what I was looking for. I did pass it on to where I thought it would be most useful.
May 30, 2020
Interesting story about some very heroic, trailblazing women, but it often felt repetitive with extremely similar stories being reiterated many times throughout the book.
May 7, 2020
I received this ARC free from the publisher. This is my honest review.
I rarely get to read about pioneering women I had never heard of, so when "No Man's Land" arrived for my review, I was intrigued. The story of Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson's collaboration to bring quality medical care to the Allied Forces during WWI while proving women could run a military hospital as well as any man is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Murray and Garrett Anderson were each a force to be reckoned with, but when they teamed up, nothing could stand in their way. Their names deserve recognition at the same levels as Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Murray and G.A. were both encouraged as young girls to pursue their dreams despite any obstacles. So even in a time when women doctors were relegated to hospitals for women and children, these two women plied all their skill and talent where they could and campaigned for women's rights as suffragettes. When WWI broke out, these two saw an opportunity and took it. They opened the first all-women military hospital in Paris, France (the British military was not interested in their help at that time), and proved their worth. This was but the first of several all-women-run hospitals they ran during WWI - ultimately for the British Army. Murray, in fact, became the highest-ranking female in the British forces during that time.
While focused on Murray and Garrett Anderson, the story expands to highlight many of the other women surgeons, nurses, and orderlies that worked in one of the many military hospitals they founded. It provides enough background on the Allied failures and successes to inform the reader on how the war drove medical science and how work at Murray and G.A.'s hospitals improved the condition of all injured British soldiers.
Of a timely note, there is a cautionary tale of the Spanish Flu and how its three waves could provide insight into how the current Covid-19 pandemic could play out if not managed well.
These were two women who found themselves at the cusp of change and grabbed it by the horns. Their efforts were not always successful, and they did not win every battle. Still, they pushed the limits of suffrage and medical science, paving the way for the multitude of women doctors we consider normal over 100 years later.
Note: there have been comments about violence in this book. I found the violence well within context and by no means graphic or gratuitous. While Murray and Garrett Anderson were very likely lesbians (they never declared one way or the other), their sexual preferences never play into the overarching story of women coming together to confront a denigrating status quo. At its core, this is a book about women taking the opportunity to show the world they are far more capable than many might assume.
I rarely get to read about pioneering women I had never heard of, so when "No Man's Land" arrived for my review, I was intrigued. The story of Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson's collaboration to bring quality medical care to the Allied Forces during WWI while proving women could run a military hospital as well as any man is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Murray and Garrett Anderson were each a force to be reckoned with, but when they teamed up, nothing could stand in their way. Their names deserve recognition at the same levels as Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Murray and G.A. were both encouraged as young girls to pursue their dreams despite any obstacles. So even in a time when women doctors were relegated to hospitals for women and children, these two women plied all their skill and talent where they could and campaigned for women's rights as suffragettes. When WWI broke out, these two saw an opportunity and took it. They opened the first all-women military hospital in Paris, France (the British military was not interested in their help at that time), and proved their worth. This was but the first of several all-women-run hospitals they ran during WWI - ultimately for the British Army. Murray, in fact, became the highest-ranking female in the British forces during that time.
While focused on Murray and Garrett Anderson, the story expands to highlight many of the other women surgeons, nurses, and orderlies that worked in one of the many military hospitals they founded. It provides enough background on the Allied failures and successes to inform the reader on how the war drove medical science and how work at Murray and G.A.'s hospitals improved the condition of all injured British soldiers.
Of a timely note, there is a cautionary tale of the Spanish Flu and how its three waves could provide insight into how the current Covid-19 pandemic could play out if not managed well.
These were two women who found themselves at the cusp of change and grabbed it by the horns. Their efforts were not always successful, and they did not win every battle. Still, they pushed the limits of suffrage and medical science, paving the way for the multitude of women doctors we consider normal over 100 years later.
Note: there have been comments about violence in this book. I found the violence well within context and by no means graphic or gratuitous. While Murray and Garrett Anderson were very likely lesbians (they never declared one way or the other), their sexual preferences never play into the overarching story of women coming together to confront a denigrating status quo. At its core, this is a book about women taking the opportunity to show the world they are far more capable than many might assume.
April 21, 2022
Reino Unido. Las mujeres sufragistas han llevado sus protestas callejeras hasta el vandalismo. Comienzan los encarcelamientos. La lucha está en un punto crítico. Se convierten en enemigas del gobierno. Las mujeres se organizan, se hacen más fuertes, más numerosas, discuten estrategias.
En este momento crucial para todas llega la Primera Guerra Mundial. Dos de las principales figuras sufragistas aprovechan esta oportunidad para llevar a cabo su lema “hechos, no palabras”. Aunque en esa época no se permitía a las mujeres licenciarse en medicina, algunas de ellas iban de oyentes o aprendían por otros medios. Con esos conocimientos se trasladan a Francia, frente de la guerra, para crear el primer hospital militar gestionado íntegramente por mujeres.
Y funciona. No sólo funciona, sino que funciona de forma muy eficiente. Las mujeres trabajan sin descanso dejándose la piel. Cirujanas, enfermeras, auxiliares… Muchos ojos están puestos en ellas. Al principio intentan boicotearlas, pero con el avance de la guerra y el aumento de heridos van ganando credibilidad. No sólo tienen que hacerlo bien, sino mejor que los hombres, para que las tomen en serio.
Más adelante fundarán el famoso hospital militar de la calle Endell en Londres, uno de los mejores de la ciudad, bien equipado y con los mejores tratamientos. Allí demostrarán que las mujeres son perfectamente capaces de ejercer la medicina. Pero al acabar la guerra, cuando pensaban que habían conseguido su objetivo, el sueño de alcanzar la igualdad se evapora. Al menos por un tiempo.
Es un libro completísimo que nos va a contar el desarrollo de la guerra, vidas y anécdotas de mujeres reales con nombres y apellidos, historias de muchos de los heridos que pasaron por esos hospitales… todo gracias a las cartas, recortes de periódico y diarios de las propias protagonistas que han llegado hasta nuestros tiempos.
En este momento crucial para todas llega la Primera Guerra Mundial. Dos de las principales figuras sufragistas aprovechan esta oportunidad para llevar a cabo su lema “hechos, no palabras”. Aunque en esa época no se permitía a las mujeres licenciarse en medicina, algunas de ellas iban de oyentes o aprendían por otros medios. Con esos conocimientos se trasladan a Francia, frente de la guerra, para crear el primer hospital militar gestionado íntegramente por mujeres.
Y funciona. No sólo funciona, sino que funciona de forma muy eficiente. Las mujeres trabajan sin descanso dejándose la piel. Cirujanas, enfermeras, auxiliares… Muchos ojos están puestos en ellas. Al principio intentan boicotearlas, pero con el avance de la guerra y el aumento de heridos van ganando credibilidad. No sólo tienen que hacerlo bien, sino mejor que los hombres, para que las tomen en serio.
Más adelante fundarán el famoso hospital militar de la calle Endell en Londres, uno de los mejores de la ciudad, bien equipado y con los mejores tratamientos. Allí demostrarán que las mujeres son perfectamente capaces de ejercer la medicina. Pero al acabar la guerra, cuando pensaban que habían conseguido su objetivo, el sueño de alcanzar la igualdad se evapora. Al menos por un tiempo.
Es un libro completísimo que nos va a contar el desarrollo de la guerra, vidas y anécdotas de mujeres reales con nombres y apellidos, historias de muchos de los heridos que pasaron por esos hospitales… todo gracias a las cartas, recortes de periódico y diarios de las propias protagonistas que han llegado hasta nuestros tiempos.
July 19, 2020
Dry in parts but interesting research on Doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson.
I feel like for a historian in 2020 to feel the need to say "It's impossible to say whether Murray and Anderson enjoyed a sexual relationship... but they certainly forged a lifelong loving bond" is unfortunate - loads of historical straight couples never had kids so there's no "proof" of their sexual relationship, but you wouldn't feel the need to write a disclaimer after researching how they're buried in a shared grave with the inscription "We have been gloriously happy"/wore matching rings/lived together/told family they hated being apart/Anderson in her will leaving her rings to her "nieces in love" (Murray's nieces)/Murray leaving everything in her will to Anderson, etc. Calling their love story a "loving bond" seems insubstantial and in general their relationship felt downplayed.
I feel like for a historian in 2020 to feel the need to say "It's impossible to say whether Murray and Anderson enjoyed a sexual relationship... but they certainly forged a lifelong loving bond" is unfortunate - loads of historical straight couples never had kids so there's no "proof" of their sexual relationship, but you wouldn't feel the need to write a disclaimer after researching how they're buried in a shared grave with the inscription "We have been gloriously happy"/wore matching rings/lived together/told family they hated being apart/Anderson in her will leaving her rings to her "nieces in love" (Murray's nieces)/Murray leaving everything in her will to Anderson, etc. Calling their love story a "loving bond" seems insubstantial and in general their relationship felt downplayed.
July 21, 2021
I hated for this book to end! It was an amazing true story of three all female military hospitals in WWI run by Dr. Flora Murray and Dr, Louisa Garrett Anderson. The stories of their harrowing work in Paris and then in London was completely riveting. And after nursing WWI soldiers back to health for four miserable years, the Spanish Flu epidemic hit patients and staff. Wendy Moore has written a remarkable book!
April 10, 2021
One for the keeper shelf. A really well-told history, of women in medicine, of health care in World War I, of doctors and patients, and of the home front in Britain as well.
October 29, 2023
I started #NonfictionNovember early this year, with this amazing account of a military hospital run by and staffed almost entirely by women during WWI. Well-researched and tightly written account of the horrors of the war, as seen thru the eyes of these smart, brave women.
Book 1 of #NonfictionNovember
Book 1 of #NonfictionNovember
April 11, 2023
Remarkable women making strides in women’s rights and medical technology - the British took what they could get from them during the war and then ousted them afterward.
September 14, 2020
This is one of the best books I've ever read, particularly non-fiction.
It is the story of Endell Street Military Hospital, in the Covent Garden area of London. Started in 1915 during the first World War, it was the only hospital founded by women, and where all of the medical staff (doctors, surgeons) and most of the administrative staff were women. It was started by Doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson.
If you have any interest at all in women's history, medical history, and/or World War I, you should read this book. It outlines the struggles of women who were trained in the few programs available to them to become physicians. Once their training was finished, job opportunities were few and far between. The two women who founded Endell Street were also active in the suffrage movement, and during the war, proved without a doubt that women were capable of so much more than society wanted or expected them to be.
The book talks not just about the struggles of the two founders, but Britain's problems during the first world war, where to some extent, women became "allowed" to do jobs not open to them before out of necessity. Murray and Anderson started their journeys by volunteering to set up a hospital for France; once they made a success of it, the British Army took notice. And even though they were allowed to set up Endell Street, they still had to fight for so much, and were never really treated the same as male doctors and military hospitals. But in the end, they prevailed and were able to save many lives and treat hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers. When the war ended, they were still overcome by victims of the Spanish flu, and the hospital didn't actually close until December 1919.
The author introduces us to so many of the women who worked there, and gives us their stories. It's really a group of amazing people, literally operating in a world hesitant to accept them. The stories of both the women and the hospital are riveting, and full of so much information that is absorbed while reading the book that you don't even consciously realize that it's actual history.
To go into any detail would make this review way too long. So I will just say, you should read this book. It shows us how much has changed for women, and also (unfortunately) how much remains the same.
It is the story of Endell Street Military Hospital, in the Covent Garden area of London. Started in 1915 during the first World War, it was the only hospital founded by women, and where all of the medical staff (doctors, surgeons) and most of the administrative staff were women. It was started by Doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson.
If you have any interest at all in women's history, medical history, and/or World War I, you should read this book. It outlines the struggles of women who were trained in the few programs available to them to become physicians. Once their training was finished, job opportunities were few and far between. The two women who founded Endell Street were also active in the suffrage movement, and during the war, proved without a doubt that women were capable of so much more than society wanted or expected them to be.
The book talks not just about the struggles of the two founders, but Britain's problems during the first world war, where to some extent, women became "allowed" to do jobs not open to them before out of necessity. Murray and Anderson started their journeys by volunteering to set up a hospital for France; once they made a success of it, the British Army took notice. And even though they were allowed to set up Endell Street, they still had to fight for so much, and were never really treated the same as male doctors and military hospitals. But in the end, they prevailed and were able to save many lives and treat hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers. When the war ended, they were still overcome by victims of the Spanish flu, and the hospital didn't actually close until December 1919.
The author introduces us to so many of the women who worked there, and gives us their stories. It's really a group of amazing people, literally operating in a world hesitant to accept them. The stories of both the women and the hospital are riveting, and full of so much information that is absorbed while reading the book that you don't even consciously realize that it's actual history.
To go into any detail would make this review way too long. So I will just say, you should read this book. It shows us how much has changed for women, and also (unfortunately) how much remains the same.
April 26, 2021
La lucha que tuvieron que realizar estas mujeres para que pudieran ejercer su profesión , debido a las continuas trabas que los hombres les ponían.
Demostraron con creces que eran capaces de gestionar , trabajar en hospital cuyo personal principalmente eran mujeres.
Después de su lucha durante la 1 guerra mundial no son reconocidas por ejercer una gran labor a cargo del político de turno y todo lo avanzado retrocede. A día de hoy las mujeres siguen luchando por la igualdad salarial
Demostraron con creces que eran capaces de gestionar , trabajar en hospital cuyo personal principalmente eran mujeres.
Después de su lucha durante la 1 guerra mundial no son reconocidas por ejercer una gran labor a cargo del político de turno y todo lo avanzado retrocede. A día de hoy las mujeres siguen luchando por la igualdad salarial
May 28, 2022
Un libro inspirador sobre la lucha de dos mujeres para obtener su derecho al voto y ser reconocidas como mujeres profesionales en medicina. Es también un testimonio sobre la Gran Guerra, así como de las consecuencias de la gripe española, entre otros temas.
Muy recomendable.
“La guerra las encontró como meras siervas…y las dejó como mujeres libres.”
Muy recomendable.
“La guerra las encontró como meras siervas…y las dejó como mujeres libres.”
December 18, 2020
Round up to 4.5 stars. This was excellent. Well-researched and not at all dry. I would have liked to hear more about the research process. Gathering all that material must have been fascinating and challenging.
February 22, 2024
What a bunch of badasses. Honestly all these women were and everything they accomplished (and the way men responded to it) blew my mind.
November 2, 2024
Authors have a choice to make when writing history of medicine/science - do they lean more into the history side or more into the science side? Moore comes down firmly on the side of history rather than science with this narrative. The story of Endell Street is an interesting and important one, but Moore spends more time focused on the women and their interpersonal woes rather than giving any real detail or description of the medicine they perform.
For some people this is will be exactly the kind of book they are looking for. However, as a huge fan of history of medicine, this book read a little too superficial and flat. Moore gives only cursory details to the medical advancements made by the women, or indeed anyone in WW1, and frequently gets basic medical details wrong.
If you're completely new to the suffragette battle, WW1 or history of surgery at the turn of the century then this book will be a good starting place. If you're familiar with any of the areas listed above, you'll find yourself a little bored more often than not. Moore needed as stronger editor and more medical savvy to turn this into anything more than a fairly bland 3 stars from me.
For some people this is will be exactly the kind of book they are looking for. However, as a huge fan of history of medicine, this book read a little too superficial and flat. Moore gives only cursory details to the medical advancements made by the women, or indeed anyone in WW1, and frequently gets basic medical details wrong.
If you're completely new to the suffragette battle, WW1 or history of surgery at the turn of the century then this book will be a good starting place. If you're familiar with any of the areas listed above, you'll find yourself a little bored more often than not. Moore needed as stronger editor and more medical savvy to turn this into anything more than a fairly bland 3 stars from me.
November 19, 2022
The history of Endell Street is genuinely inspiring! I definitely recommend learning about the women who ran the hospital. They are interesting figures in history. Dr. Murray and Dr. Louisa Garret Anderson, who were what would be considered "enemies of the state" at the time, performed extraordinary work in France and London during WWI; definitely worth the read. No Man's Land has been a great help in providing me with the background info needed for my thesis.
July 23, 2020
Drs. Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett were strong and heroic women in the medical field and especially during WWI. They helped pave the way for all future female physicians and I enjoyed reading their story. What they accomplished in France was amazing. The book at times was dry and somewhat repetitive though. Thank you to the Hatchette Book Group for my free copy.
February 16, 2022
Wendy Moore's The Knife Man is a favorite of mine, so I was delighted to discover this one about a couple of brilliant, intrepid women surgeons in England during WWI. Both previously militant suffragettes, Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray decided they would set up and run a hospital for soldiers in France - staffed almost entirely by women: doctors, nurses, orderlies, clerks, administrators. Women doctors - the few that there were - had every possible obstacle in their paths at that time: medical schools wouldn't admit them, hospitals wouldn't let them do clinical training, and if they managed to qualify anyway (abroad, or via the rare schools that did let them in), they could only practice in women's and children's health. Anderson and Murray - with no military surgery experience, and little experience even treating male patients - decided the need was too great, and they made it happen... with a success that astonished and converted even skeptical military officials. During the course of the war, in France at first and then operating a nearly 600-bed hospital in London, they treated 20,000 patients and fewer than one percent died. Gassed, smashed, shell-shocked, with hideous trauma, these men were put back together, massaged, fed, entertained, cared for... healed. Men asked to be sent to their hospital for its outstanding care and sent letters to the women who worked there for years afterward. It is an extraordinary story, deeply researched and filled with the details provided in the letters and diaries of the staff, medical and military records.
Then, the war was over. The Endell Street Hospital was asked to stay open almost another year, this time to care for the torrent of Spanish flu victims. And once that was done... it was business as usual. The medical schools slammed the doors shut again on women trainees, hospitals refused to hire them. Only after persistent and vocal activism were the women granted the same tax-exempt status as the male doctors had been given. The postwar secretary of war wrote a scathing letter to the Medical Women's Foundation, citing the "unrefutable fact that women cannot adequately perform men's tasks," that men will refuse to be treated by women (ask those 20,000 soldiers...), and their services are not and will not be of use in the future. Thanks a lot, Winston Churchill.
Some of the women went back to treating women and children, or found other "back room" positions in pathology or research. Some married. Most of them looked back on their years at Endell as the most exciting, challenging, and satisfying period of their lives.
It's a great story, and this book should serve as a significant reference in the history of medicine and The Great War. That said, for readers looking for a gripping read, this may not be your cup of tea - detail is voluminous and frequently repetitive. How many times must one use the phrase "patched up," or describe the nurses and doctors rousted from their beds in the wee hours, or the songs sung at the regular entertainments staged? Knife Man had a tighter focus on one individual, the eccentric, difficult and brilliant anatomist John Hunter; No Man's Land has a huge operation, a sprawling cast of characters, a global war and epidemic, and an era of social upheaval to cover, so it too is a much more sprawling and chaotic book. May not be page-turning bedtime reading, but an important book for those with a particular interest in its subjects.
Then, the war was over. The Endell Street Hospital was asked to stay open almost another year, this time to care for the torrent of Spanish flu victims. And once that was done... it was business as usual. The medical schools slammed the doors shut again on women trainees, hospitals refused to hire them. Only after persistent and vocal activism were the women granted the same tax-exempt status as the male doctors had been given. The postwar secretary of war wrote a scathing letter to the Medical Women's Foundation, citing the "unrefutable fact that women cannot adequately perform men's tasks," that men will refuse to be treated by women (ask those 20,000 soldiers...), and their services are not and will not be of use in the future. Thanks a lot, Winston Churchill.
Some of the women went back to treating women and children, or found other "back room" positions in pathology or research. Some married. Most of them looked back on their years at Endell as the most exciting, challenging, and satisfying period of their lives.
It's a great story, and this book should serve as a significant reference in the history of medicine and The Great War. That said, for readers looking for a gripping read, this may not be your cup of tea - detail is voluminous and frequently repetitive. How many times must one use the phrase "patched up," or describe the nurses and doctors rousted from their beds in the wee hours, or the songs sung at the regular entertainments staged? Knife Man had a tighter focus on one individual, the eccentric, difficult and brilliant anatomist John Hunter; No Man's Land has a huge operation, a sprawling cast of characters, a global war and epidemic, and an era of social upheaval to cover, so it too is a much more sprawling and chaotic book. May not be page-turning bedtime reading, but an important book for those with a particular interest in its subjects.
May 2, 2021
Six stars.
Hands-down the best book I have read in 2021 so far. Two women did something that would have made them "complete ****ing badasses" if they did it today...but they did it 100 years ago when women didn't even have the right to vote, serve in the military, or (in Britain) practice as doctors. If you were well off, you went to finishing school, got married, and attended costume parties in country mansions. These women opened a freaking hospital in a war zone, all on their own, and staffed it entirely with women.
Oh, and they were suffragettes who were also fighting to get women the vote and for general gender equality...while operating a hospital in time of war. Again, this was over 100 years ago.
I Could. Not. Put. This. Book. Down.
I sincerely predict that Hollywood will turn this into a movie once it gets wider readership. No one has told this (complete) story yet, although one of the "stars" of the book did write her account (it was woefully incomplete and one-sided). This book is the result of *amazing* research by the author.
The writing itself moves so quickly that you really do feel as if you are there, but it's not a novel, it's real life told by a talented author.
If stories like those of Hidden Figures - or other stories where a disadvantaged class is simply told "you can't do that," and they do it anyway - are your jam, pick this up.
Hands-down the best book I have read in 2021 so far. Two women did something that would have made them "complete ****ing badasses" if they did it today...but they did it 100 years ago when women didn't even have the right to vote, serve in the military, or (in Britain) practice as doctors. If you were well off, you went to finishing school, got married, and attended costume parties in country mansions. These women opened a freaking hospital in a war zone, all on their own, and staffed it entirely with women.
Oh, and they were suffragettes who were also fighting to get women the vote and for general gender equality...while operating a hospital in time of war. Again, this was over 100 years ago.
I Could. Not. Put. This. Book. Down.
I sincerely predict that Hollywood will turn this into a movie once it gets wider readership. No one has told this (complete) story yet, although one of the "stars" of the book did write her account (it was woefully incomplete and one-sided). This book is the result of *amazing* research by the author.
The writing itself moves so quickly that you really do feel as if you are there, but it's not a novel, it's real life told by a talented author.
If stories like those of Hidden Figures - or other stories where a disadvantaged class is simply told "you can't do that," and they do it anyway - are your jam, pick this up.
December 30, 2024
Libro impresionamente fácil de leer. Wendy Moore ha sabido cómo convertir un libro clásico de historia en una casi novela/reportaje de la primera guerra mundial.
Para muchos, el hospital de la calle Endell era desconocido hasta ahora, pero la forma de retratar a las protagonistas de esta historia te hacen sentir que siempre las conociste.
El final del libro es lamentable, deja de ser esta expectacular historia de aventura y guerra que presentaban para volver a la cruda realidad. A mirar al frente y darte cuenta de que la sociedad que se relata al final del texto, es tu sociedad, eres tú.
No es para nada un libro de filosofía pero sí podrías filosofar con él, agradezco el intento de incluir la mayor cantidad de nombres en el libro, le da mucho respeto a las protagonistas de las historias.
Como último punto, adoro cuando los libros históricos traen un apartado gráfico, este no se queda atrás.
Para muchos, el hospital de la calle Endell era desconocido hasta ahora, pero la forma de retratar a las protagonistas de esta historia te hacen sentir que siempre las conociste.
El final del libro es lamentable, deja de ser esta expectacular historia de aventura y guerra que presentaban para volver a la cruda realidad. A mirar al frente y darte cuenta de que la sociedad que se relata al final del texto, es tu sociedad, eres tú.
No es para nada un libro de filosofía pero sí podrías filosofar con él, agradezco el intento de incluir la mayor cantidad de nombres en el libro, le da mucho respeto a las protagonistas de las historias.
Como último punto, adoro cuando los libros históricos traen un apartado gráfico, este no se queda atrás.
December 30, 2022
I was so glad to find this book! I was excited to read more about WWI and then to find out about a hospital run by women. And this book was about a hospital during WWI that was run exclusively by women. And I mean - everything. All the doctors, nurses, orderlies, and even stretcher bearers were women. They faced huge obstacles and prejudice.
These women were amazing. They joined the medical field trying to make a difference. Many of the women volunteers came from quiet middle-class lives. They spent their days going to parties and arranging flowers. Then they went into a hospital where they worked up to 12 hours a day changing bandages, moving patients to and from the operating room, and helping patients with daily tasks. Most of these women wrote that these years were the best of their lives.
This author did a great amount of research. She included diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings. It was sad to learn about a hospital that had done so much good during the war and then fade to obscurity afterwards because of sexism.
These women were amazing. They joined the medical field trying to make a difference. Many of the women volunteers came from quiet middle-class lives. They spent their days going to parties and arranging flowers. Then they went into a hospital where they worked up to 12 hours a day changing bandages, moving patients to and from the operating room, and helping patients with daily tasks. Most of these women wrote that these years were the best of their lives.
This author did a great amount of research. She included diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings. It was sad to learn about a hospital that had done so much good during the war and then fade to obscurity afterwards because of sexism.
June 9, 2024
This book was amazing, and surprisingly fitting for pride month. They made clear that most signs pointed to them being a couple—including a shared headstone, living together for most of their lives, and having matching diamond rings. I mean, I don’t know why the author even throws in that they don’t know for sure because there aren’t letters explicitly stating they were lovers.
The author gave homage to the complex personalities, accomplishments, and failures of the woman who founded and worked at this hospital. There were no rose colored glasses. It was depressing to read about how hard they worked only to have their work relegated to the backwaters of history, as most history of women tends to be.
Also, can I just say the more that I read about Winston Churchill, the more I dislike him? He’s quite the sexist pig.
The author gave homage to the complex personalities, accomplishments, and failures of the woman who founded and worked at this hospital. There were no rose colored glasses. It was depressing to read about how hard they worked only to have their work relegated to the backwaters of history, as most history of women tends to be.
Also, can I just say the more that I read about Winston Churchill, the more I dislike him? He’s quite the sexist pig.
November 23, 2020
An extremely interesting book about some of the pioneering women doctor who ran military hospitals during World War I. Showing that women were capable surgeons and leaders. I had never heard of the Endell Street Hospital. It was fascinating to learn that women from many countries came to work and treat patients at the hospital.
It was frustrating as always to read about all the women did and then hear how they were shunted to the side after the war, although not unexpected. I have read several books about the many types of work women in the U. S. and Europe did to serve during the war without the same benefits. And every time once men started to come home the women were pushed out. Why, especially in the past but even today, that men have the jobs in preference to women? Many women are happy being wives and mothers, but that doesn't mean they can't want to do more.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in pioneering women, medical history, and/or World War I.
It was frustrating as always to read about all the women did and then hear how they were shunted to the side after the war, although not unexpected. I have read several books about the many types of work women in the U. S. and Europe did to serve during the war without the same benefits. And every time once men started to come home the women were pushed out. Why, especially in the past but even today, that men have the jobs in preference to women? Many women are happy being wives and mothers, but that doesn't mean they can't want to do more.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in pioneering women, medical history, and/or World War I.
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May 17, 2023This book tells the story of the famous WWI military hospital, Endell Street, which was completely run by women. During WWI and many years after, that was unheard of. The book runs through the life of the 2 women who started the hospital, Flora Murray & Lousia Garrett Anderson. The book tells the story of the hardships and successes throughout the war and with women. There are many accounts from soldiers during the war and how they did during their stays at Endell. These 2 women and their staff were amazing human beings, not only for their service to soldiers as doctors, nurses, orderlies and more, but as woman right activist until the day they died.
January 16, 2021
An evocative and well-researched recounting of the only completely women-run hospital during world war I. Moore is really good at describing the atmosphere and energy that the two women surgeons in charge of this hospital were facing. Stories like these are often forgotten especially in the midst of such history changing events as world war, but thankfully they are brought to light in books like this.
April 12, 2023
What a compelling book. A look at women during World War I, and how they contributed. Unfortunately, women were still considered lowly creatures, even though they were saving lives and breaking new barriers. After the war, they were brought back down to second class citizens. It was necessary to give the men their masculinity back, and the women need to go back to the kitchen.
A read worth the time.
A read worth the time.
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