A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

A Midwife's Tale

by

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 

    In May of this year I audited a class at OSU that was called Historical Research.  It was a four week class and one week was spent on this book.  We read the first two chapters and a third chapter of our choice and watched a documentary about it.  We also had discussions and a paper to write about the book.  I was totally mesmerized by the book and its topic and although we had to rush on to a new topic the next week I promised myself I would read the entire book at a later date.  This pm I just completed the book.  I totally enjoyed the book and found it fascinating.  It is a book about a woman in the late 1700's and early 1800's who was a midwife in Maine.  She kept a diary and the interpretation of that diary is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's work that she wrote this book about.  I have a great respect for the time it took the author to piece this body of work together and found the topic and the resulting product a delight.  More information can be found by clicking on the the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information and also HERE a link can be found that will lead the reader to actual digital images of the diary.   Below enjoy the wonderful documentary about Martha and her diary.   I found this book very inspiring and recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical non fiction, especially if they enjoy women's history.  

Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky

Polio:

An American Story

by

David Oshinsky

For the past two weeks,  my fb contacts have been inundated by my posts related to this book.  I listened to it on my commute each day to and from work and often I would have to google for more information different topics that spurred an interest in me for more information.  Not that the book didn't have great in depth information because it did.  But it made me hungry for more.  The topic of polio has always fascinated me for several reasons.  One is my age.  The first polio vaccine only went on the market two years before my birth so I barely dodged the bullet of being at risk for polio.  Another reason is my mother's interest.  She was an RN who received her training at a time when caring for polio victims was a large part of her education and work.  And she had an aunt who was a polio survivor.  Although I never knew my great aunt,  as we moved around the midwest when I was growing up,  my mother always found a polio survivor shut in, in each new community we lived,  to visit on a regular basis.  As a child she often brought me with her.  But back to Oshinsky's book.  It covers so many of the interesting and important topics related to polio.  FDR,  Warm Springs,  The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis,  The March of Dimes,  Sister Kenny, Dr Salk,  Dr Sabin,  along with more recent questions in relation to the long range effects of the various vaccines that have been used to immunize against polio.  I loved this book!  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows