Bethenia Owens-Adair was the first graduate woman doctor in the American West. Adventuring in a profession hitherto reserved for men, she fought prejudice and ridicule to become a great physician and a brilliant surgeon.

From the age of three, Bethenia was a pioneer, journeying with her family on the first fateful wagon trail that blazed the way West from Missouri to Oregon. On the plains she herded cattle and worked on her father's farm. She had only a few months of log-cabin schooling before she married at the age of fourteen. Her husband was cruel and shiftless and she left him, braving the disgrace of divorce. Ill from grief, poverty and exhaustion, with a sickly baby to support, she determined to start a new life. She could scarcely read or write and suffered through the humiliation of grade school, determined to get as much education as possible. Eventually she became a teacher, but more than anything else she wanted to be a doctor—a career virtually impossible for women.

Battering down prejudice, Bethenia was graduated from a Philadelphia medical school in 1872, but when she returned to practice in Oregon she found mistrust and belligerence. Male doctors were outraged, and even old neighbors were hostile. Fearlessly she continued her work, unaware that her brothers protected her with guns. When she became a qualified surgeon, she had to fight all over again. She crusaded for women's rights and fought hard to change the Oregon laws regarding mental health.

The story of Bethenia Owens-Adair is dramatic, romantic, deeply inspiring—a story of triumph over nearly impossible obstacles. The author takes us into the warm heart of a woman who pioneered a lonely path on the frontiers of American medicine, who lived bravely, dangerously, gloriously.

From the dust jacket