Fairly interesting but by no means exhaustive look at women trying to break into medicine in 19th C US. While it addresses some of the inequalities of the time, the subject might have benefitted from at least some brief comparison with UK comtemporaries. The author made it sound as if these were the first female drs. In reality rights to study medicine have been granted and witheld in waves. In medieval England, about 40% of medical students were female and they wrote some of the foremost medical texts and invented the most groundbreaking surgeries of the day. Head to Victorian England at around the time if these female medical students and you'll find plenty of women studying alongside men. The contention was whether they could be awarded a degree afterwards. Honestly this book tells a third of the story.

The Cure for Women is a book that I enjoyed. It was informative, well-written with just enough tongue-in-cheek to keep things interesting, and (in the audiobook format) with a likeable voice. It also made me mad. This is nothing surprising given the subject matter. There is a long, ilustrious history of sexism and racism and the history of women in medicine wanders into the thick of it. I very much recommend learning this very important and fascinating part of history.. But be aware of what you're getting into. Be prepared to take breaks... And maybe indulge in the fantasy of giving various historical figures an earful.

This audio book is intersting. It tells a lot of history of the struggles of women who wanted to become doctors.
Maybe too many names and places to keep track of, but still worth the listen.

"The Cure for Women" is an excellent nonfiction title on medicine for women, and women in medicine, during the Victorian period, by following Mary Putnam Jacobi. It covers how Emily Blackwood was admitted to medical school, and how she inspired other women to pursue medicine, mainly Mary Putnam. Throughout the book readers will also get history of male physicians against abortion (as a method to maintain control of medicine and women's bodies) and their beliefs of women's brains connecting to their uterus and other female-specific organs. The history also include the educational opportunities, and lack thereof, and that women would leave one country to pursue medicine in another.

The narrator, Sara Sounds, was a fantastic choice for this title.

This was not a date-heavy book, but rather focused on social and cultural norms, how those impacted women's access to care, medicine, and to practice, and men's role in these. I absolutely would recommend this for any person interested in medical history or women's history.

I highly recommend this for readers looking to grow their knowledge and read more women's history for March.

This is very interesting but VERY long. I was not expecting this to be as big as it was. I had a hard time staying engaged just based on the amount of information.

4+ important historical stars, not rounded up

The Cure for Women is an important historical work about women physicians and the barriers they faced. Women need to remember how far they’ve come and be wary of never regressing with their hard-earned rights. We also need to remember those who helped bring us this far. The book mentions Dr. Putnam Jacobi knowing suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony and the Blackwell sisters (doctors), but I had not heard of Mary Putnam Jacobi before. I am glad I got to read about her Dr. Jacobi’s life and work.

The author writes, “In a Victorian culture that valued women as ornamental birthing machines, the cutting-edge, evidence-based medicine Jacobi practiced was an act of disobedience. Her scientific research dismantled the myths about women’s bodies spread by men, transformed medicine, and laid the groundwork for the future advancements of women including suffrage. It was a turning point for women struggling to be seen as fully human. Jacobi became one of the most important physicians, male or female, of the nineteenth century. Her amazing accomplishments remain mostly unrecognized today.” Reeder’s research is amazing. The non-fiction narrative style she uses cites first-person resources extensively.

Just as the subtitle got a bit long, (Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed Women's Lives Forever), so did the book. The Publisher says it’s 336 pages long; I don’t know if that includes 25% of my Advanced Reader Copy which is research footnotes. I think the book seemed long because there were some tangents besides Victorian Medicine and the topic of women’s health history is a serious topic.

I was dismayed at the male doctors who experimented on enslaved women (gynecology) without anesthesia, and the ‘rest cure’ for mental ailments/ depression that completely took away women’s autonomy and made things worse.

Narrator Sara Sheckells does an outstanding job of making the book come alive and feel more personal. I listen to quite a few audiobooks, and her voice was the perfect combination of easy to listen to but never lulling you to sleep.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Cure for Women is an interesting and well-written work on non-fiction that focuses on women interested in studying medicine, and in particular on Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi's life and battles for equality for women in education and medical practice.

The author Lydia Reeder presents the facts in a very clear way, including researched and precise data regarding the history of women in medicine. Needless to say, this book made my blood boil for a good part of it: religion, fixed roles based on gender and especially white men who were (still are, sometimes) convinced to be the only who could use their brains, were the big enemies of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, but she fearlessly fought her entire life for evolution, improvement and knowledge.

There are a lot of details to digest, and the audiobook is not short, but still it was a very interesting and informative read that I would recommend to everyone. Sara Sheckells, who narrated the audiobook, did a really good job, even though her French pronunciation was not great.

* I'd like to thank Lydia Reeder, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this ALC in exchange for my honest review.
#TheCureforWomen #NetGalley

A fascinating and informative history of the early days of women in modern medicine. Mary Putnam Jacobi was a true pioneer in the fight for women gaining access to higher education and the rights to practice medicine.

Much like another book I read this month, the title of this book is very misleading. Is this a book about Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi? Absolutely. BUT, it is also a book about all the women who came before her [including, but not limited to Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell {there is a LOT about them, especially Emily}, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane Addams and many others who's names escape me now] and a few after as well, and helped pave the way for women in medicine and women's rights overall.

While this was an outstanding book and I learned so much [the research here is clearly extensive], I wanted to much more of Dr. Jacobi; the parts that were just her were just so fascinating and I found myself disappointed with then story veered off in another direction. So while I DID enjoy this, I ended up wishing it was so much more. I would not hesitate to recommend it though as it is a deep-dive into women in medicine and is a jumping off point to do more reading on the subject, all while getting an excellently written and researched book to start with.

I have not had the pleasure of listening to Sara Sheckells before [that I remember], and I was left hoping that this isn't my last time listening to her narration. Ms. Sheckells has a lovely quiet voice that tells this important story in such a way that keeps you fully engaged and I highly recommend this audiobook and narrator.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lydia Reeder, Sara Sheckells - Narrator, St. Martin's Press, and Dreamscape Media for providing the audiobook and eBook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203578826-the-cure-for-women

Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi is the hero you and I never knew we had.  The facts presented in this book are thoroughly researched and painted a vivid picture of medicine in the 19th century and the fight for women to become doctors.  This history is both extremely educational and infuriating.  With each chapter I was enraged which imo can be boiled down to two reasons: 1) Religion and, 2) White Men, which to this day still remains prevalent hundreds of years later.   There was a lot of information to digest, I suggest listening to it in small bites and be sure to read through the Epilogue. 
#TheCureforWomen #NetGalley

I received this audiobook (14 hours) from NetGalley for my honest feedback.

This book read so smoothly for being nonfiction. I never felt bogged down in the details and the pace kept moving throughout. I couldn't put it down.

The non-linear timeline was difficult to follow at times, but Reeder would often refer to other events from earlier in the book that happened at the same time to give her audience a frame of reference.

I absolutely would recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about medical history or the struggle of women to attain higher education.

The Cure for Women by Lydia Reeder is a well-researched account of the fight for, and barriers against, women doctors in the US in the Victorian era. The story focuses mainly on the life and accomplishments of Dr Mary Putnam Jacobi, one of the first women to become an accredited MD in US by studying in Europe. The book outlines the often shoddy and frequently downright dangerous treatment of women by male doctors who fought against women becoming doctors, arguing that their supposed emotional personalities made them unsuitable to the rigours of the profession. However, Putnam, through logical, fact-based and well-documented treatises, was able to refute these unfounded prejudices as well as showing the fallacies behind the accepted gynaecological as well as psychological treatment of women and she quickly became an important leader in the feminist movement.

This is a well-written, fascinating, and damn near unputdownable history of the fight for women doctors as well as some of the horrifying treatment of women patients by male doctors during the Victorian Age. But perhaps, at least for me, was the similarities of many attitudes between then and now including a push to end abortions, which were legal at the time, by the fledgling AMA supposedly on ‘scientific’ ie the rise of Eugenics rather than religious grounds but with many of the same arguments recently used to end Roe v Wade.

For anyone interested in the history of medicine and women in the 19th c., how far we've come and how much we have to lose, this is an excellent read. I read an e-arc of this book from St Martin’s Press while listening to the audiobook from Dreamscape Media narrated by Sara Sheckells who does an excellent job.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Dreamscape Media. All opinions are my own.

Audiobook ARC provided by NetGalley. I truely enjoyed the experience of learning about the incredible and intelligent women breaking down barriers in the 19th century.

Audio is my preferred form of experiencing nonfiction, so don’t know if the book would have kept my attention if I was reading it physically. Quite a lot of medical and female empowerment strides are being discussed and therefore it could get quite confusing I think personally if I had read it physically. The audiobook is definitely the way to go with this book.

While it was amazing to hear about these women that knew what they wanted and went for it, it does sadden me to see how they themselves looked down on other women who were not as wealthy or educated as they were. They would treat the poor and the sick however they also looked down on them as if their patients were somehow lessor. The prejudices of the time show through even though they made sure to make space for themselves in the male dominant field of medicine.

Overall very fascinating and glad to learn the names of the women that had such a large impact on medical education and basic medical practices that are the standard today.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review

The facts I am now telling everyone after reading this book. Wow this was good. It’s crazy stuff and it’s hard to believe this stuff even happened. Why are these “educated” male doctors sharing such uneducated information , CRAZY. but yeah it was really well written, I felt like I learnt a lot and I was interested the whole time. I really recommend.

I'll be publishing my review on Goodreads and StoryGraph 23rd December and on Tik tok most likely will add to a monthly wrap up post with review the beginning of January

In today’s society, where women are still fighting for their medical rights and their place in society, histories, and biographies like the cure for women by Lydia Reeder about Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and her continual challenges to the Victorian medical community proved to be still highly educational and relevant.

I love reading these books and seeing a females persevere against the patriarchy and pave away for future generations.

Not being the first woman to receive a medical education, Putnam Jacobi is not a household name, but her strength, intelligence and endurance is something worth recognizing and looking up to.

I found this, what I’m calling a biography/history, absolutely fascinating and inspiring. The Cure for Women does not only focus on the life story and the many achievements and struggles that Puttnam Jacobi goes through, but that of her peers and women in medicine or receiving treatment during the Victorian time. I found this broad view of history at the time to create a broad picture of the time period and women’s medical experience in general.

With so much in flux during this time where women are losing ground on a daily basis, it’s easy to relate to the historical struggles these women experienced.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sara Sheckells and found her reading to be clear and concise, but with a good linguistic fit to the Victorian American women whom she spoke of. The narrators enthusiasm and excitement for the topic was audible, and helped create and enjoyable listening experience.

I read this ARC through NetGalley, it was such an amazing, informative and insightful book about three prominent women Doctors in the late 1800’s. Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, Emily Blackwell and Elizabeth Blackwell . Although this books main focus is on Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi it does not take away from the great accomplishments of the Blackwell sisters . Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi was a true women’s suffragette, she was the first woman who was admitted to study medicine at the university of Paris. She fought for the education of women and girls; she worked in a woman’s hospital and fought for women’s healthcare in a time when women were regarded as no more worthy than animals .

As women's healthcare continues to be both underfunded and under-researched, its interesting to look back on the history of women in medicine and see how far we have come since the days of traveling wombs and forced hysterectomies'. While there is much progress still to be made, it is good to reflect on how far we have already come. The lives of the women's stories in this book and the work they undertook didn't just advance the trajectory of women's issues but healthcare for everyone and proved that women deserved a place in the long revered medical profession. I greatly enjoyed this book, excepting some portions that felt a little gruesome to me and made me sick with sadness for the women who were treated so abysmally.

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC audiobook for review. This audiobook was a fantastic and informative book about Dr Mary Putnam Jacobi and her journey through medical school. But this book also touches on Victorian medicine and how poorly it treated women, how difficult it was as for women at the time to do anything without a man, and the fight for the right to vote. The quote that stood out the most to me was a man on his right to vote and that women can’t, he states, “I vote, not because I am intelligent, not because I am moral, but because I am a man”. Over 100 years ago regarding women’s suffrage yet, this statement unfortunately resonated with me….

This was so well done! I really enjoyed learning about the history of women and women's issues in medicine, and while the topic may sound dry, the writing made it as interesting and suspenseful as a thriller. It was so frustrating to read about the earlier challenges, when even brilliant women were not allowed to study medicine, and when women's health issues were treated so differently because of ignorance. Medicine has come so far, even though there are still issues today. The narration is fantastic, and helped keep my interest. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this amazing audibook.

Unfortunately, this was archived 2 weeks before the release date, so I didn’t get a chance to read it.