{"title":"Nina Rattner Gelbart","description":"\u003cp\u003eNina Rattner Gelbart's works delve into richly woven biographies that illuminate remarkable lives from history. Through meticulous research and engaging narrative, she brings to light fascinating figures, exploring their personal and cultural landscapes with sensitivity and depth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect evocative stories that blend historical insight with compelling characters, such as those found in \u003cem\u003eMinerva's French Sisters\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe King's Midwife\u003c\/em\u003e. Her books offer a thoughtful exploration of identity, heritage, and the roles women have played across different eras.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-kings-midwife-by-nina-rattner-gelbart-9780520221574","title":"The King's Midwife","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis biography explores the life of an extraordinary Enlightenment woman who, by sheer force of character, parlayed a skill in midwifery into a national institution. In 1759, in an effort to end infant mortality, Louis XV commissioned Madame Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray to travel throughout France teaching the art of childbirth to illiterate peasant women.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor the next 30 years, this royal emissary taught in nearly 40 cities and reached an estimated 10,000 students. She wrote a textbook and invented a life-sized obstetrical mannequin for her demonstrations. She contributed significantly to France's demographic upswing after 1760.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWho was the woman, both the private self and the pseudonymous public celebrity? Nina Rattner Gelbart reconstructs Madame du Coudray's mission through extensive research in the hundreds of letters by, to, and about her in provincial archives throughout France. Tracing her subject's footsteps around the country, Gelbart chronicles du Coudray's battles with finance ministers, village matrons, local administrators, and recalcitrant physicians, her rises in power and falls from grace, and her death at the height of the Reign of Terror.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt a deeper level, Gelbart attempts to recapture du Coudray's interior journey as well, by questioning and dismantling the neat paper trail that the midwife so carefully left behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe King's Midwife\u003c\/em\u003e is a fascinating look into the life and legacy of a woman who made an indelible impact on France's medical and cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855867531500,"sku":"9780520221574","price":64.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5436073482373.jpg?v=1759281440"},{"product_id":"minervas-french-sisters-by-nina-rattner-gelbart-9780300252569","title":"Minerva's French Sisters","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis book presents the stories of six intrepid women of science in eighteenth-century France whose lives and accomplishments—though celebrated in their lifetimes—have been largely written out of the history of their period: mathematician and philosopher Elisabeth Ferrand, astronomer Nicole Reine Lepaute, field naturalist Jeanne Barret, garden botanist and illustrator Madeleine Françoise Basseporte, anatomist and inventor Marie-Marguerite Biheron, and chemist Geneviève d’Arconville. By adjusting our lens we can find them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a society where science was not yet an established profession for men, much less women, these six audacious and inspiring figures made their mark on their respective fields of science and on Enlightenment society, as they defied gender expectations and conventional norms. Their boldness and contributions to science were appreciated by such luminaries as Franklin, the philosophes, and many European monarchs. The book is written in an unorthodox style to match the women’s breaking of boundaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMinerva's French Sisters\u003c\/em\u003e offers a refreshing perspective, bringing to light the extraordinary achievements of these remarkable women.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47431630881004,"sku":"9780300252569","price":77.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780300252569.jpg?v=1774557485"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/nina-rattner-gelbart.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}