About this Book

"An astonishing, moving and wonderfully absorbing story."
--Dr. Molly Joel Coye
Former Health Director for New Jersey and California
Not only was Dr. Mary Canaga Rowland one of the first woman doctors in America, she was one of the few who practiced in the rough and tumble world of the Wild West. In this riveting, utterly authentic memoir, Dr. Rowland takes us back to the frontier at a time when house calls meant hitching up and heading for lonely cabins to set broken limbs, deliver babies, and battle death with little more than her bare hands. The devastating influenza epidemic of 1918, the Great Depression, and cases of madness, incest, transvestism, and attempted suicide challenged her skills. Murder destroyed her personal life.
These pages speak of pioneer life as it was, reaching from the buffalo drives to the nuclear age. The delightful author is so full of insight, common sense, and fun that you wish she were still around to be your doctor and your friend.
"Opens up a vanished world and makes it live again. . . . Dr. Rowland gives us a detailed picture of the hardships and adventures of daily life, but best of all she gives us a rich sense of the people she knew and cared for."
--Peter S. Hawkins
Professor, Yale University