Bedtime Biography: Florence Nightingale Book Summary - Bedtime Biography: Florence Nightingale Book explained in key points

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Bedtime Biography: Florence Nightingale summary

Name: Bedtime Biography: Florence Nightingale
Rating: 4.7 (73 reviews)
Author: Cecil Woodham Smith

Cecil Woodham Smith

1820-1910

4.7 (73 ratings)

33 mins

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Bedtime Biographies

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Bedtime Biography: Florence Nightingale
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Introduction

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It’s hard to overstate the central role that Florence Nightingale played in the development of modern nursing. Her influence is so profound that nurses in the United States begin their careers by taking the Nightingale Pledge, International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday, and the highest honor for nurses, the Nightingale Medal, bears her name.

Nightingale first rose to prominence for her tireless service tending to British soldiers during the Crimean War. Yet, her talents went beyond mere compassion and care. She was also a brilliant thinker and avid reformer who helped revolutionize the fields of sanitation, medical statistics, and epidemiology.

So, how did just one woman accomplish so much? Well, it’s an amazing story. So, let’s sit back, settle in, and hear the tale of Florence Nightingale.

Chapter 1

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in an expansive country villa outside the city of Florence, Italy. Her parents were Fanny and William Edward Nightingale, who was affectionately known as W.E.N. by friends. They were a young, wealthy, cultured couple. Each came from a long line of English aristocrats and they were noted for their calm and agreeable demeanor. By the time Florence was born, they already had one daughter, Parthenope, also called Pop.

While W.E.N. was content to raise his family in the idyllic Tuscan countryside, Fanny longed to return to England. So, a year after Florence was born, the four Nightingales departed from Italy and resettled in the United Kingdom. Here, the family split their time between Embley Park, a sprawling 80-bedroom estate in Hampshire, and Lea Hurst, a comparatively modest country home with a mere 15 bedrooms.

Chapter 2

The frontlines of any war are a horrific affair and the battlefields of Crimea were no different. The multi-nation conflict saw British, French, and Ottoman soldiers fighting fierce bloody skirmishes with the Russian military. Although many died in combat, the deadliest enemy lurked in the military’s filthy field hospitals. Thousands of soldiers died of infections like cholera. Facing such carnage, the British government was desperate to improve the state of their medical care.

In 1854, Sidney Herbert, the British secretary of state, wrote to Florence. He requested she bring her expertise to Scutari, a city on the frontlines in desperate need of a competent hospital administrator. Feeling called to duty, Florence accepted the offer. Within days, she departed for Crimea along with a handful of her best nurses.

Chapter 3

Over the next few months, Florence worked with a single-minded dedication. Staying mostly in her room, she poured over reams and reams of reports and surveys detailing the different approaches taken by hospitals, infirmaries, and barracks throughout the British empire. While the field of statistics was still rudimentary, she managed to pull valuable information from the spotty data she had. She loved the work, too, writing to a friend that analyzing numbers was “more enlivening than a novel.”

The result was a 1,000-page report soberly titled “Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army.” The manuscript was dense with figures, facts, tables, and statistical comparisons. Her findings were clear: the conditions at most hospitals were atrocious. If the state wanted to save lives, it had to improve the hygiene, diet, and sanitation at its facilities. The report recommended that the army enforce stricter regulations for its facilities and that doctors keep better track of their medical statistics in order to finely tune their treatments.

Chapter 4

Once again, disappointed and disillusioned, Florence retreated from public advocacy. She moved to a new home at the edge of Hyde Park and resigned herself to a solitary existence. She declined most visitors and her written correspondences, once prodigious in volume, slowed to a trickle. Instead, she passed the days reading gazing out at the garden, reading Greek literature in bed, and doting attention on her several cats.

It was a quiet, peaceful life and perhaps a bit lonely. Though, the reverie didn’t last long. It seemed that Florence couldn’t really ever escape her calling to help others. By the spring of 1864, she was once again engaged in the endless work of reform. From her room in Mayfair, Florence coordinated, campaigned, and petitioned the government for action on many issues.

The End

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What is Bedtime Biography: Florence Nightingale about?

Narrated by Marston York

Florence Nightingale (1951) tells the legendary story of the “Lady with the Lamp,” the famed nurse who arrived to soothe the souls of those wounded in the Crimean War. It chronicles her journey to the conflict’s horrific medical barracks, and how she used her experiences to forever change the way hospitals are run and how the sick are treated.

Who should read Bedtime Biography: Florence Nightingale?

People interested in amazing life stories
Those curious about life and hardships during Victorian times
History buffs

About the Author

Cecil Woodham-Smith was a distinguished and award-winning author of historical books concerning the Victorian era. After spending nine years meticulously researching and writing her first book, on Florence Nightingale, she went on to publish books about the Great Irish Famine and the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade.

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