Books › Witches, midwives, and nurses
Witches, midwives, and nurses
a history of women healers
First published 1971 · 192 pages
A sharp, righteous unearthing of how the modern medical establishment was built on the ashes of women's traditional healing.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like uncovering a suppressed historical blueprint. It is a brisk, righteous, and deeply clarifying text that reads less like a dry history and more like an urgent manifesto. The mood is both sobering and galvanizing, steeping the reader in the indignation of systemic erasure while simultaneously offering the empowering thrill of reclaiming stolen knowledge. The prose is sharp, accessible, and unapologetically polemical, slicing through centuries of patriarchal myth-making to reveal the capitalist and misogynistic roots of modern medicine. It will deeply resonate with feminists, healthcare workers, and anyone who has ever felt dismissed by the medical establishment, offering a profound sense of validation and a fiery call to remember the women who healed before us.
- Mood
- indignant
- eye-opening
- empowering
- sobering
- Tone
- righteous
- analytical
- urgent
- incisive
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- institutional misogyny · commodification of care · reclamation of history · systemic erasure · capitalism and patriarchy
- The writing
- Sharp, accessible, and polemical, delivering dense historical analysis with the clarity and urgency of a manifesto.
- The arc
- Moves from historical outrage at systemic erasure to a galvanized, empowering call for reclaiming women's bodily autonomy.
- Who it's for
- Feminists, history buffs, and healthcare workers looking to understand the patriarchal roots of modern medicine.
Content notes
- medical misogyny
- witch trials and executions
- sexism
- systemic oppression
About the book
Witches, Midwives, and Nurses examines how women-led healing was delegitimized to make way for patriarchy, capitalism, and the emerging medical industry.
As we watch another agonizing attempt to shift the future of healthcare in the United States, we are reminded of the longevity of this crisis, and how firmly entrenched we are in a system that doesn't work.
First published by the Feminist Press in 1973, Witches, Midwives, and Nurses is an essential book about the corruption of the medical establishment and its historic roots in witch hunters. In this new and updated edition, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English delve into the current fascination with and controversies about witches, exposing our fears and fantasies. They build on their classic exposé on the demonization of women healers and the political and economic monopolization of medicine. This quick history brings us up-to-date, exploring today's changing attitudes toward childbirth, alternative medicine, and modern-day witches.
Description from Open Library.
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