Cassandra: Florence Nightingale's Angry Outcry Against the Forced Idleness of Victorian Women

If you are interested in Victorian gender roles especially, but also nursing history or the Crimean War, Nightingale's Cassandra is a nice text to own. Be aware that it is not a fancy publication, but it is worth the price. It's a slim stapled paperback volume at 64 pages: pp. 1-23 is an interesting intro by Myra Stark, p. 24 is a short chronology of Nightingale's life, pp. 25-55 is the actual essay, and pp. 56-8 is a poem Epilogue by Cynthia Macdonald.Cassandra is an interesting primary source that gets inside the head of an amazing and overlooked woman. Most people have heard of her as the nurse from a war, but not as many know how outspoken, intelligent, and independent she was. It also gets inside the heads of Victorian women who thought like Nightingale on Victorian gender roles. She is very quotable; I just turned to a random page and came across, "Marriage is the only chance (and it is but a chance) offered to women for escape from this death; and how eagerly and ignorantly it is embraced!" (38).(Not terribly important, but I purchased this text used and my copy is a bright orange-red rather than blue. I wasn't sure what it was when I opened the package!)

Fun read if you are interested in her or the subject

Book was great quality, wasn't my favorite read but was definitely a New Woman text!.

Florence expresses her exasperation with Victorian rules and regulations in a way that reaches right up to the 21st century.

Terrific little book.

Informative.

Well worth a read. Gives one a fascinating incite into Florence Nightingale.

A brilliant book. It should be recommended reading for every school.