Sisters is the first major history of the pivotal role played by nuns in the building of American society. Nuns were the first feminists, argues Fialka. They became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges.
In the 1800s nuns moved west with the frontier, often starting the first hospitals and schools in immigrant communities. They provided aid and service in the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes in the California Gold Rush and brought professional nursing skills to field hospitals run by both armies in the Civil War. Their work was often done in the face of intimidation from such groups as the Know Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan.
In the 1900s they built the nation's largest private school and hospital systems and brought the Catholic Church into the civil rights movement. As their numbers began to decline in the 1970s, many sisters were forced to take professional jobs as lawyers, probation workers, managers and hospital executives because their salaries were needed to support older nuns, many of whom lacked a pension system. Currently there are about 75,000 sisters in America, down from 204,000 in 1968. Their median age is sixty-nine.
In Sisters, Fialka reveals the strength of the spiritual capital and the unprecedented reach of the caring institutions that religious women created in America.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Praise for Sisters
"Sisters's strength is Fialka's ability to put flesh and blood into the accounts of the lives and work of sisters and to show through these lives the immense contribution to American society."
---National Catholic Reporter
"Fialka tells [the nuns'] story passionately, analyzing their remarkable contributions to education, health care, social reform, and civil rights."
---San Francisco Chronicle
"Fialka is bent on recovering those thrilling days of yesteryear when flocks of sisters . . . pushed beyond the settled boundaries of nineteenth-century America to aid in the civilizing of a continent."
---Kenneth L. Woodward, The New York Times Book Review
"In a book as sweeping as its title, John J. Fialka lays out the major role of Catholic nuns in the building of our nation."
---Providence Journal
"[Sisters is a] well sourced and often sparkling narrative about legions of spirited and spiritual Catholic sisters."
---Washington Post
John J. Fialka is a reporter with the Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau. He lives in McLean, Virginia.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00074877891
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Idaho Youth Ranch Books, Boise, ID, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or limited small stickers. Book may have a remainder mark or be a price cutter. Seller Inventory # D-02-03-08-0743
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.6. Seller Inventory # G0312262299I4N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.6. Seller Inventory # G0312262299I4N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Reno, Reno, NV, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.6. Seller Inventory # G0312262299I4N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.6. Seller Inventory # G0312262299I4N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Goodwill, Brooklyn Park, MN, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: VeryGood. Item has stickers or notes attached to cover and/or pages that have not been removed to prevent further damage. Seller Inventory # 2Y6RVK004SH6_ns
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Seattle Goodwill, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. May have some shelf-wear due to normal use. Your purchase funds free job training and education in the greater Seattle area. Thank you for supporting Goodwills nonprofit mission!. Seller Inventory # 0KVOTW00CHYU_ns
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Project HOME Books, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Used - Good. Seller Inventory # FT08-000060
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Books Unplugged, Amherst, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Buy with confidence! Book is in good condition with minor wear to the pages, binding, and minor marks within 1.51. Seller Inventory # bk0312262299xvz189zvxgdd
Quantity: 1 available