Heroines of Mercy Street

By: Pamela D. Toler PhD PhD

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

A look at the lives of the real nurses depicted in the PBS show Mercy Street.

Heroines of Mercy Street tells the true stories of the nurses at Mansion House, the Alexandria, Virginia, mansion turned war-time hospital and setting for the PBS drama Mercy Street. Among the Union soldiers, doctors, wounded men from both sides, freed slaves, politicians, speculators, and spies who passed through the hospital in the crossroads of the Civil War, were nurses who gave their time freely and willingly to save lives and aid the wounded. These women saw casualties on a scale Americans had never seen before, and medicine was at a turning point.

Heroines of Mercy Street follows the lives of women like Dorothea Dix, Mary Phinney, Anne Reading, and more before, during, and after their epic struggle in Alexandria and reveals their personal contributions to this astounding period in the advancement of medicine.

Critic reviews

"Accessible and well researched... Successfully illustrates the beginnings of nursing as a designated field of medical practice."—Rebecca Hill, Library Journal

More of a history lesson.....

Don't buy this book if you are interested in a recounting of the PBS series.... It's not. Instead it's a carefully written history of nursing in the Civil War. I kept waiting for the story to start! But as a nurse and somewhat of a nursing history buff, I really enjoyed the book (dry in parts...) and was fascinated at the state of the art in the 1860's. The book recounts the inbred tension between schools of nursing (Dix vs Nightengale, for example), and truly lays a foundation for art of the nursing we know today. Lots of familiar names for me.... Clara Barton and others. The narrator was fair, some mispronunciations (Scutari, for example), but overall easy to listen to. I honor the women who have walked before me in this profession.

Not the PBS series

I got this book thinking i was getting a book like the TV series. it is not. It is a
book about the nurses of the civil war.
It reads much like a history text but the author kept me interested.
I am always on the search for nurses in history. This book included Dorthea Dix, Clara Barton and Louisa Mae Alcott amoung others.

really enjoyed this book

great book, very informative, puts the history of the civil war in another context we don't usually hear about. too bad wasn't more about the southern medical efforts, nurses, doctors, hospitals, tended to make it sound as the northern people were heroes and southerners were monsters, but most bios were written by northerners so I suppose that's why it's slanted in that direction.

nursing history/northern view

As a registered nurse, I especially appreciated this book. Also the PBS series is now more meaningful to me.

More than the Mansion House Hospital

The book goes into detail of the lives of the famous nurses that The Mansion House Hospital and some that were not on the show but had an impact on nursing during the civil war and after. The book overall is good although the personal opinions of the author got repetitive and old fast. It is interesting and is good if you want to learn more about the real people portrayed on the show.