Other Nightingale reference works
The following comments were written by Hugh Small. All of these books are important reference works quoted in Florence Nightingale: Avenging Angel.:
Baly, Monica, Florence Nightingale and the Nursing
Legacy. Second Edition, London: Whurr Publishers, 1997
Unique source of information about Nightingale's complicated relationship with the
Nightingale Fund
Cook, Sir Edward, The Life of Florence Nightingale.
London: Macmillan, 1913
Family-influenced biography which draws a veil of Edwardian discretion over some aspects
of Nightingale's life which were controversial at that time although we would no longer
think so. 2-volume work that contains much detail not found in later works. See
article on Florence Nightingale's 20th Century Biographers.
Cope, Zachary, Florence Nightingale and the Doctors.
London: Museum, 1958
Zachary Cope was a distinguished surgeon. Nightingale and the surgical profession have
always been more sympathetic to each other than she was towards physicians. Zachary Cope's
book is a chivalrous retrospective attempt to patch up the quarrels between her and her
medical contemporaries.
Goldie, Sue M. 'I have Done My Duty': Florence
Nightingale in the Crimean War, 1854-56, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987
Very comprehensive edition of letters from the war period, 1854-56. Recently reissued
under a slightly different title: Letters from the Crimean War.
Smith, F. B., Florence Nightingale: Reputation
and Power. London: Croom Helm, 1982
Nightingale sympathisers find this book offensive because it portrays her as a meddling
manipulator. It is nevertheless useful for the many scholarly references to unpublished
material. It is now out of print. Professor Lynn McDonald claimed In the Times
Literary Supplement of 8 December 2000 that Smith's archival references do not
support the anti-Nightingale statements made in his book. Smith in 2001 criticised
Florence Nightingale on a BBC TV programme. The BBC now admits that Smith was wrong
(see The BBC vs. Florence Nightingale).
Vicinus, Martha and Bea Nergaard, Ever Yours, Florence
Nightingale. London: Virago, 1989
Collection of letters from throughout her life.
Woodham-Smith, Cecil, Florence Nightingale.
Edinburgh: Constable, 1950
The best-known biography, by an author who is female, despite her name. Emphasises the
friction between Nightingale and her sister and mother. Largely condensed from the
earlier biography by Cook, and does not annotate references to original material.
See article on Florence Nightingale's 20th Century Biographers.