Written in 1857, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivaled Florence
Nightingale's during the Crimean War. Seacole traveled widely before
arriving in London, where her offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war
was met with racism and refusal. Undaunted, she set out independently to
the Crimea, where she acted as doctor and "mother" to wounded soldiers
while running her business, the "British Hotel." Told with energy,
warmth, and humor, her remarkable life story and accounts of hardships
at the battlefront offer significant insights into the history of race
politics.
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