The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will hold its next book club meeting on Tuesday, May 16, at 7 pm on zoom. The featured selection is Healing a Divided Nation: How the American Civil War Revolutionized Western Medicine by Carole Adrienne. APT member, former nurse, and Civil War buff Pam Covey chose the book. She liked it because it highlights Philadelphia’s prominence in medicine as the national nexus during the Civil War.

At the onset of the Civil War, Philadelphia was a city of divided loyalties. It was not until the casualties from great battles of the war started filtering back through Philadelphia and Confederates were threatening Pennsylvania from the west that the city rallied strongly to the cause.

In the meantime, Philadelphia medicine figured prominently in the country and in the world for advances in patient care. Pioneers such as S. Weir Mitchell, Samuel Gross, and W. W. Keen were practicing here. Philadelphia had two major medical schools and was home to some of the largest Army hospitals (Satterlee in West Philadelphia and Mower General in Chestnut Hill) as well as specialty hospitals (Wills Eye, Turner’s Lane, and the Stump Hospital). Philadelphia also hosted two of the first “Refreshment Saloons”/Hospitals in the country (which could be said to be the forerunners of today’s USO).

The zoom link will be sent out in the President’s email that week. Non-members can email Judy at to get the link the morning of the meeting.