Clara Barton: Professional Angel
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Book Overview
Widely known today as the "Angel of the Battlefield," Clara Barton's personal life has always been shrouded in mystery. In Clara Barton, Professional Angel, Elizabeth Brown Pryor presents a biography of Barton that strips away the heroic exterior and reveals a complex and often trying woman.
Based on the papers Clara Barton carefully saved over her lifetime, this biography is the first one to draw on these recorded thoughts. Besides her own voluminous correspondence, it reflects the letters and reminiscences of lovers, a grandniece who probed her aunt's venerable facade, and doctors who treated her nervous disorders. She emerges as a vividly human figure. Continually struggling to cope with her insecure family background and a society that offered much less than she had to give, she chose achievement as the vehicle for gaining the love and recognition that frequently eluded her during her long life. Not always altruistic, her accomplishments were nonetheless extraordinary. On the battlefields of the Civil War, in securing American participation in the International Red Cross, in promoting peacetime disaster relief, and in fighting for women's rights, Clara Barton made an unparalleled contribution to American social progress. Yet the true measure of her life must be made from this perspective: she dared to offend a society whose acceptance she treasured, and she put all of her energy into patching up the lives of those around her when her own was rent and frayed.Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0812212738
ISBN13:9780812212730
Release Date:February 1988
Publisher:University of Pennsylvania Press
Length:476 Pages
Weight:1.57 lbs.
Dimensions:1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
excellent condition
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 14 years ago
This book came in like-new condition. It's a "thick" read, but a good one. Very interesting biography.
Excellent Biography
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
Elizabeth Brown Pryor eloquently told the story of Clara Barton digging deep into who exactly Clara Barton was and the many areas in which Clara was an agent for change in society.
Clara Barton: Pushy Broad
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
I enjoyed this biography of Barton as it covered more than just her years as a Civil War nurse & battlefield angel. Pryor gives life to Barton, exposing her touching little secrets (she liked to take a nip now and then, had a romance with a married man & dyed her hair) as well as her less-than-saintly personality (she was fiercly competive with other reformers like Dorthea Dix and really like being in the spotlight). Her two major accomplishment -- her battlefield nursing and the founding of the American Red Cross -- came about through stubborn sacrifice and a real dedication. She got done what she did because she was relentless in achieving her purposes. Her pushiness knew no bounds: she called on neighbors and politicians, asked for favors, used emotional blackmail and wasn't always sweet as pie about it all. Pryor's admiration for her subject is evident and she reveals Clara as a modern woman who used any and every resource available at a time when no one was inclined to support such activity. I came away from this book liking Clara Barton, even with her halo slightly tarnished.
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