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Summary
Summary
Letters From Egypt is Florence's only publication not concerned with nursing. The letters reveal her as an energetic and sympathetic young woman with her life before her---but in places it is difficult not to read more into her observations, as when she described the hardships of the nun with whom she travelled to Alexandria.
Author Notes
Born in Florence, Italy, of wealthy parents, Florence Nightingale was a British nurse who is regarded as the founder of modern nursing practice. She was a strong proponent of hospital reform. She was trained in Germany at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, which had a program for patient care training and for hospital administration. Nightingale excelled at both. As a nurse and then administrator of a barracks hospital during the Crimean War, she introduced sweeping changes in sanitary methods and discipline that dramatically reduced mortality rates. Her efforts changed British military nursing during the late 19th century.
Following her military career, she was asked to form a training program for nurses at King's College and St. Thomas Hospital in London. The remainder of her career was devoted to nurse education and to the documentation of the first code for nursing. Her 1859 book, Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not has been described as "one of the seminal works of the modern world." The work went through many editions and remains in print today. Using a commonsense approach and a clear basic writing style, she proposed a thorough regimen for nursing care in hospitals and homes. She also provided advice on foods for various illnesses, cleanliness, personal grooming, ventilation, and special notes about the care of children and pregnant women.
On 13 August 1910, at the age of 90, she died peacefully in her sleep at home. Although her family was offered the right to bury her at Westminster Abbey, this was declined by her relatives, and she is buried in the graveyard at St. Margaret Church in East Wellow, Hampshire. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
These letters from Florence Nightingale to her family and friends give an extraordinary view of Egypt in 1849. Edited by her sister in 1854, prepared for publication now by Anthony Sattin, they are accompanied by a rich selection of reproductions that give a genuine period look to the volume and complement the narrative. Nightingale, at 29, had not yet determined her mission in life--a call to God 12 years before had been nonspecific--but her seriousness and intelligence, along with a deep spiritual orientation, are clearly evident in these observations made during a three-month trip along the Nile. At first, she finds Egypt ""a land of graves"" and suggests that Egyptians ""are as much oppressed as they can be and live."" Many landscapes lack color, and the culture, with its otherworldly emphasis, seems solemn and melancholy: ""nothing ever laughs or plays here."" Sighting an Ethiopian slave boat, Nightingale and her companions discover to their dismay that a man or woman costs less than a horse. Moreover, the temperature may vary. 90 degrees in a day, and time seems to have a different pace--in the holiest places, time seems measured by ""a century-hand."" But the trip has many visual satisfactions--whirlpool divers at the Cataracts, a palm forest with lilac dwarf iris, the Moorish architecture in Cairo--and some unforgettable experiences, especially a khamsin, or sandstorm, which the travelers barely survived. What makes this, Nightingale's only writing not about nursing, most involving are her informal contemplations on, say, this relationship of architecture and religion (""I never understood the Bible till I came to Egypt"") and her erudite comparisons--the temple at Karnak to St. Peter's, Egyptian metaphysics to Roman Catholic faith. Nightingale herself sympathizes more with Moses than with any other historical figure (""always striving to give the Hebrews a religion they could not understand"") and reveals throughout an enduring quest for spiritual fulfillment. Overall: a handsomely illustrated book with surprising pulling power. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Nightingale, well known for her dedication to and reform of nursing, was also a prolific letter writer. In November 1849 she spent five months sailing from Alexandria to Abu Simbel and back. On that journey she wrote many letters to her family in England, vividly and in great detail describing the ruins, the environment, the lives of the people, and the politics of Egypt. The letters were ``circulated'' by her sister in 1854 and are now published for the first time. Many sketches and colored paintings of 19th-century Egypt appropriately illustrate the narrative. A visually and intellectually satisfying book recommended to academic and large public libraries. Kathleen Farago, Lakewood P.L., Ohio (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.