Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-248) and index.

The story of American women in medicine is multi-fold, from their ascendency as healers and midwives in colonial years to their gradual decline as they were eclipsed by men, whose entrance into the medical ranks brought new standards of exclusionary professionalism. All-male medical schools and boards pushed "healing" women into the subcategory of midwife or nurse. Nineteenth-century women formed their own colleges and eventually forced themselves into competition with accepted medical institutions. But they had to overcome society's Victorian grudge against any woman who wished to become a professional, as well as the basic distrust of a rural population for medicine. Understanding the stories of these medical pioneers--their motivations, hardships, and conflicts--assigns a human face to otherwise dry statistics.--From publisher description.