PHYSICIAN TO THE WORLD: Esther Pohl Lovejoy

by Olive W. Burr ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1973

Olive Butt manages to make the life of the globe trotting woman doctor ploddingly factual and highly fictionalized at the same time. Esther's thoughts, words and costumes are imagined in hackneyed detail from that first ship christening ceremony when she was twelve all through medical school in Oregon, marriage to a fellow doctor, a family practice in Alaska, and over 50 years of relief work for the American Women's Hospital Service. In France during World War I (""Though she grieved at the thought of these splendid young men being killed, she was comforted by the belief that their sacrifice would lead the world to a lasting peace""), she paused to divorce her second husband, then ""she learned that Smyrna was in flames"" and rushed to assist the displaced Greeks through ""days that would make an angel weep."" With the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 ""Esther soon had a new area in which to aid the victims of disaster"" . . . and so it went until she died at 97 in 1967. Burt ends with a rundown of the numerous tributes to Esther in medical periodicals, Today's Health, and the New York Times (a two.column obituary); if there is a need for further treatment, this pedestrian recapitulation does not fill it.

Pub Date: April 1, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Messner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION