Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World

"DiGregorio’s storytelling is pitch-perfect; narrative and nursing, she understands, come from the same place and both are concerned with a deep understanding of character and plot….This is a brilliant book, and DiGregorio is a beautiful writer. Taking Care deserves to be on the reading list for nursing and medical schools, and on the bedside table of all politicians."—New York Times Book Review

In this sweeping cultural history of nursing from the Stone Age to the present, the critically acclaimed author of Early pays homage to the profession and makes an urgent call for change.

Nurses have always been vital to human existence. A nurse was likely there when you were born and a nurse might well be there when you die. Familiar in hospitals and doctors’ offices, these dedicated health professionals can also be found in schools, prisons, and people’s homes; at summer camps; on cruise ships, and even at NASA. Yet despite being celebrated during the Covid-19 epidemic, nurses are often undermined and undervalued within the modern healthcare system in ways that reflect misogyny and racism, and that extend to their working conditions—and affect the care available to everyone. But the potential power of nursing to create a healthier, more just world endures.

The story of nursing is complicated. It is woven into war, plague, religion, the economy, and our individual lives in myriad ways. In Taking Care, journalist Sarah DiGregorio chronicles the lives of nurses past and tells the stories of those today—caregivers at the vital intersection of health care and community who are actively changing the world, often invisibly. An absorbing and empathetic work of public health history that combines storytelling with nuanced reporting, Taking Care examines how we have always tried to care for each other—the incredible ways we have succeeded and the ways in which we have failed. Fascinating, empowering and significant, it is a call for change and a love letter to the nurses of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

This powerful cultural history of nursing reveals:

• The Hidden History of Nursing: From the Stone Age to the front lines of war and plague, discover the unwritten story of the caregivers who have always been vital to human existence.
• Social Justice in Healthcare: An unflinching look at how misogyny and racism have historically undermined the nursing profession and how nurses are fighting back to create a more just world.
• Patient Advocacy in Action: Chronicles the lives of nurses past and present—caregivers at the vital intersection of health care and community who actively change the world, often invisibly.
• An Urgent Call for Change: More than just a history, this is a significant and empowering argument for valuing the nursing profession and transforming the future of care for everyone.