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Janice P. Nimura, author of The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine

Elizabeth Blackwell believed from an early age that she was destined for a mission beyond the scope of "ordinary" womanhood. Though the world at first recoiled at the notion of a woman studying medicine, her intelligence and intensity ultimately won her the acceptance of the male medical establishment. In 1849, she became the first woman in America to receive an M.D. She was soon joined in her iconic achievement by her younger sister, Emily, who was actually the more brilliant physician. Exploring the sisters’ allies, enemies and enduring partnership, Janice P. Nimura presents a story of trial and triumph.

Week of January 17, 2022

Paperback releases for the week of January 17th include THE BLACK CHURCH by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America; LAND, in which Simon Winchester explores the notion of property --- our proprietary relationship with the land --- through human history, how it has shaped us and what it will mean for our future; THE DOCTORS BLACKWELL, a richly researched biography from Janice P. Nimura that celebrates two complicated pioneers --- Elizabeth Blackwell and her younger sister, Emily --- who exploded the limits of possibility for women in medicine; and Mateo Askaripour's BLACK BUCK, a crackling, satirical debut novel about a young man given a shot at stardom as the lone Black salesman at a mysterious, cult-like and wildly successful startup where nothing is as it seems.