In this book, Sandra Barney examines the transformation of medical
care in Central Appalachia during the Progressive Era and analyzes
the influence of women volunteers in promoting the acceptance of
professional medicine in the region. By highlighting the critical
role played by nurses, clubwomen, ladies' auxiliaries, and other
female constituencies in bringing modern medicine to the mountains,
she fills a significant gap in gender and regional history.
Barney explores both the differences that divided women in the
reform effort and the common ground that connected them to one
another and to the male physicians who profited from their
voluntary activity. Held together at first by a shared goal of
improving the public welfare, the coalition between women
volunteers and medical professionals began to fracture when the
reform agendas of women's groups challenged physicians' sovereignty
over the form of health care delivery. By examining the
professionalization of male medical practitioners, the gendered
nature of the campaign to promote their authority, and their
displacement of community healers, especially female midwives,
Barney uncovers some of the tensions that evolved within
Appalachian society as the region was fundamentally reshaped during
the era of industrial development.