Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend.

Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend. Mark Bostridge. Viking. [pounds sterling]25.00. xxiii + 647 pages. ISBN 978-0-670-87411-8. Florence Nightingale has attracted both attention and dispute ever since she decided to become a nurse and then to go to the Crimea. Her fame has been challenged as has her judgement by critics and debunkers. In this latest biography the author does not seek to debunk but to show that her isolation after Crimea enhanced her reputation to such a degree that it invited criticism (in time) and diminished 'the brilliance of her personality and intellect'. It also focused too much attention on the Crimea and not enough on her years of work for nursing education, the health of the army, hospital building, public health and India. To Mr Bostridge she had 'one of the greatest analytical minds of her time'. Her modern equivalent was Lady Thatcher but, lest any of the London intelligentsia think the author regards the Iron Lady too highly, he makes sure that we understand his disapproval. He has made good use of the Nightingale MSS at Claydon House and if, for those knowledgeable about the subject, he reveals no startlingly new insights, he does remind readers of the real importance of a woman who needed no lamp. The lamp gave her fame but went on to undermine her real greatness. (E.B.)