I just finished Patricia Kullberg's wonderful page-turner "Girl in the River," a novel of Portland OR's less than good-ole-days of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s when the city was corrupt in so many ways. The protagonist is a young woman forced as a teenage to fend for herself on the streets. Her story is one of struggle and determination, coinciding with a few real-life characters like Ruth Barnett, the most successful, if notorious, abortion provider in Portland. (Barnett nicknamed her friend Dr. Marie Equi -- also an abortion provider -- "Queen of the Bolsheviks").
If you want to know the practical means of providing a safe, clean abortion during the first half of the 20th century, read this book. Kullberg demystifies the procedure while presenting the realities in the dark days before Roe v. Wade. Kullberg's account is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of medicine, Portland and PNW regional politics, women's history, reproductive rights and feminism, and LGBTQ history. All that, and it's a great read.
Kullberg is completing a new work, this time non-fiction, "On the Ragged Edge of Medicine," and I'm eager to read it. I'm pleased to see that Oregon State University Press will publish it Spring 2017.
Kullberg worked much of her career as the Medical Director and staff physician for Multnomah County Health Dept. (Portland) and served marginalized men and women struggling with homelessness, mental illness and addiction. She knows of what she writes.
If you want to know the practical means of providing a safe, clean abortion during the first half of the 20th century, read this book. Kullberg demystifies the procedure while presenting the realities in the dark days before Roe v. Wade. Kullberg's account is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of medicine, Portland and PNW regional politics, women's history, reproductive rights and feminism, and LGBTQ history. All that, and it's a great read.
Kullberg is completing a new work, this time non-fiction, "On the Ragged Edge of Medicine," and I'm eager to read it. I'm pleased to see that Oregon State University Press will publish it Spring 2017.
Kullberg worked much of her career as the Medical Director and staff physician for Multnomah County Health Dept. (Portland) and served marginalized men and women struggling with homelessness, mental illness and addiction. She knows of what she writes.
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