“Sickly Vapors: Disease and Doctoring in the Old South” by Thomas Helling, MD.

Sickly Vapors: Disease and Doctoring in the Old South (UMiss Press 2024) by Thomas Helling, MD., is a carefully researched academic book examining illness, medicine, and medical training in the South from the 1600s to the late 1800s. Helling’s book includes a preface and thirteen chapters. Distinctive to Helling’s book, is his 1) careful attention […]

“Flight of the Wild Swan” by Melissa Pritchard

Flight of the Wild Swan (Bellevue Literary Press 2024), a historical fiction novel written by Melissa Pritchard, portrays the complicated and inspiring life of Florence Nightingale. Written in a chronological manner, Pritchard showcases Nightingale’s ambitious nature and gritty determinedness from her childhood years in Derbyshire, England, to her adult years as a nurse in Constantinople, […]

“The Butterfly Cage: Joy, Heartache, and Corruption: Teaching While Deaf in a California Public School” by Rachel Zemach

Reviewed by Kelly Kolodny Educational, compelling, and deeply personal. These words describe Rachel Zemach’ poignant and beautifully written memoir, The Butterfly Cage: Joy, Heartache, and Corruption: Teaching While Deaf in a California Public School (Paper Angel Press 2023). In her book, Zemach chronicles her career as a Deaf teacher—work she portrays as joyful, intriguing, and at […]

Dr. Kelly Kolodny

Kelly Kolodny is a Professor of Education at Framingham State University in Massachusetts. Her books include Normalites: The First Professionally Prepared Teachers in the United States (2014) published with Information Age Publishing and Moments that Matter in the Learning and Development of Children: Reflections from Educators (2020) also published with Information Age Publishing. She co-authored with Mary-Lou […]