
A Midwife’s Tale
The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812
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Narrated by:
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Susan Ericksen
About this listen
Drawing on the diaries of one woman in 18th-century Maine, this intimate history illuminates the medical practices, household economies, religious rivalries, and sexual mores of the New England frontier.
Between 1785 and 1812, a midwife and healer named Martha Ballard kept a diary that recorded her arduous work (in 27 years she attended 816 births) as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, Maine. On the basis of that diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard but of her society. At once lively and impeccably scholarly, A Midwife's Tale is a triumph of history on a human scale.
©1990 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (P)2017 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Entertaining Listen for NYC History Fans
- By Sand on 05-29-14
By: Ariel Lawhon
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Alexander the Great
- By: Philip Freeman
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexander was born into the royal family of Macedonia, the kingdom that would soon rule over Greece. Tutored as a boy by Aristotle, Alexander had an inquisitive mind that would serve him well when he faced formidable obstacles during his military campaigns. Shortly after taking command of the army, he launched an invasion of the Persian Empire, and continued his conquests as far south as the deserts of Egypt and as far east as the mountains of present-day Pakistan and the plains of India.
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Great book!
- By BadGuidance on 06-18-17
By: Philip Freeman
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The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women
- A Social History
- By: Elizabeth Norton
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Tudor period conjures up images of queens and noblewomen in elaborate court dress, of palace intrigue and dramatic politics. But if you were a woman, it was also a time when death during childbirth was rife, when marriage was usually a legal contract, not a matter for love, and the education you could hope to receive was minimal at best. Yet the Tudor century was also dominated by powerful and dynamic women in a way that no era had been before.
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I love this book!
- By Kathi on 08-17-17
By: Elizabeth Norton
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Marmee and Louisa
- The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother
- By: Eve LaPlante
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Biographers have consistently credited her father, Bronson Alcott, for Louisa May Alcott's professional success, assuming that this outspoken idealist was the source of her progressive thinking and remarkable independence. But in this riveting dual biography, Eve LaPlante explodes those myths, drawing on unknown and unexplored letters and journals to show that Louisa's "Marmee", Abigail May Alcott, was in fact the intellectual and emotional center of her daughter's world. It was Abigail who urged Louisa to write, who inspired many of her stories, and who gave her the support and courage she needed to pursue her path.
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Hardworking women and the man they supported
- By Chris on 04-26-13
By: Eve LaPlante
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Barriers to Entry
- Blaze Collection
- By: Ariel Lawhon
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 1 hr and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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You will have ninety minutes to solve the murder. A startling declaration by a new Harvard instructor: sixty-seven-year-old Frances Glessner Lee. It’s 1945. Before her, six wary male students given to assumptions—especially when it comes to women without a formal education—are challenged to solve a real-life whodunit using Mrs. Lee’s creation, the crime scene diorama. Every detail is accurate. And every detail matters when solving a crime with no survivors…
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Whodunit?!
- By EJ on 02-25-24
By: Ariel Lawhon
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Call the Midwife
- A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times
- By: Jennifer Worth
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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At the age of 22, Jennifer Worth left her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in postwar London’s East End slums. The colorful characters she met while delivering babies all over London - from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lived to the woman with 24 children who couldn't speak English to the prostitutes and dockers of the city’s seedier side - illuminate a fascinating time in history.
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The best book I've listened to this year
- By Richard on 06-12-13
By: Jennifer Worth
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Quackery
- A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything
- By: Lydia Kang, Nate Pedersen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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What won't we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine - yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison - was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices.
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Computer-generated Narrator. Dated Humour.
- By Nemo on 12-28-18
By: Lydia Kang, and others
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Code Name Hélène
- A Novel
- By: Ariel Lawhon
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik, Peter Ganim
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1936, and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name. As Lucienne Carlier, Nancy smuggles people and documents across the border and earns a new nickname from the Gestapo for her remarkable ability to evade capture: The White Mouse.
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Mixed Feelings
- By carpsmarsh on 02-14-21
By: Ariel Lawhon
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Home Before Morning
- The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam
- By: Lynda Van Devanter
- Narrated by: Ann Sprinkle
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Lynda Van Devanter was the girl next door, the cheerleader who went to Catholic schools, enjoyed sports, and got along well with her four sisters and parents. After high school she attended nursing school and then did something that would shatter her secure world for the rest of her life: in 1969, she joined the army and was shipped to Vietnam. When she arrived in Vietnam her idealistic view of the war vanished quickly. She worked long hours in cramped, ill-equipped, understaffed operating rooms. She saw friends die.
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Real, raw story of a Vietnam Nurse
- By Amazon Customer on 09-17-24
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I Was Anastasia
- A Novel
- By: Ariel Lawhon
- Narrated by: Jane Collingwood, Sian Thomas, Ariel Lawhon
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Russia, July 17, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police force Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia where they face a merciless firing squad. None survives. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed.
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Even knowing the true story,still enjoyed the book
- By Emily on 04-02-18
By: Ariel Lawhon
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Order from Chaos
- The Everyday Grind of Staying Organized with Adult ADHD
- By: Jaclyn Paul
- Narrated by: Vanessa Daniels
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Late fees on forgotten bills. A home full of clutter and unfinished projects. Eroding respect with your friends, family, and colleagues. Health worries from doctor's appointments you keep meaning to schedule. Nonstop anxiety as you wait for the other shoe to drop. You deserve better. Order from Chaos will teach you how your brain works and how to stop getting in your own way.
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Disorganized & boring
- By Reviewer 123 on 10-29-21
By: Jaclyn Paul
What listeners say about A Midwife’s Tale
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- Zrcranberry
- 06-12-19
A cherished slice of history
As an 18th century living historian, to have this documentation is priceless. Yes hard to follow at times, Some wording is not in the modern words we currently know. Excellent reference book for anyone with a love of 18th century New England.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Elizabeth Quitko
- 10-10-24
The historical accuracy
Particularly liked the historical presentation and explanation of how diary was annotated. As a care giver myself this was helpful in seeing the character develop and grow in her practice. Wonderful history of how modern obstetrical practice has changed yet remains the same.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Sandy Smith
- 05-23-24
The details she wrote
The travel she endured for her patients, She was dedicated and a value to the community.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anna
- 09-27-24
Excellent book and recording
This is very well written and researched. I live in Maine so enjoyed the history of my local area. If you have any interest in history at all, you will enjoy this. I’m now planning on taking a trip to fort western! I learned of this book when I gave up on listening to the historical inaccuracies in the book the Frozen River. I was thinking to myself Martha Ballard, cannot be like this, or think this way. That book is utter clap trap. Thankfully someone mentioned this book. Her diary and the author’s writing really bring her character to life. A+++
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mom
- 04-18-24
The diary itself
I don't necessarily agree with the authors interpretation of what Martha was going through while her husband was in jail. From the diary notes, it seems it was a very difficult time for her, and I think maybe her family should have jumped in and helped a little more.
I enjoyed the story, although a little boring at times, for the most part it was very informative.
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- Kathleen
- 11-23-24
Historical detail
I first came across the novel “The Frozen River,” by Ariel Lawhon featuring Martha Ballard which was engaging but seemed highly unrealistic. Wanting to know more about Martha’s work as a midwife it was a pleasant surprise to come find Laurel Ulrich’s book. If you have a particular interest in early American lives, early American medicine or midwifery this book might be for you. Martha’s non-emotional, methodical accounting of her cases is a testament to the logical and perhaps scientific turn of her mind.
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- Stacey Kay Schwab
- 01-29-25
Informative history
I can’t believe this woman’s diary almost never came to be published! This was such a great history of early America and New England. I was surprised that a lot of the conservative ideas we have about this time were false. Children born out of wedlock were common and this did not mean ostracization of women or those children.
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- Tom Johnson
- 03-11-21
Insights into 18th C life worth initial profusion of dense detail.
Ulrich’s contextualization of Martha Ballard’s life and times is a virtuoso interweaving of hundreds of related primary source and a rich, deep understanding of the time period. I found the minutiae a bit dense at times, but the narrative payoff was well worth a bit of patience. I was fascinated by the analysis of 18th century courtship, marriage, religion, physical and sexual assault, murder, suicide, legal structures, debtors prison, etc. And then there is the midwifery!
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5 people found this helpful
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- Nolkat
- 06-22-17
Insightful and Surprising
A revealing and intimate look at the past that gets away from the back rooms and battlefields of most works of history.
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- NRo
- 01-28-25
Charming auto biographical journal reading of an American Woman
This book was wonderful if you like documentary of real life. Well performed, and enticing me to do research of the geographical area the book takes place in.
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