Patti M. Marxsen is a journalist, essayist, translator, and independent scholar. She is the translator of Albert Schweitzer's Lambarene: A Legacy of Humanity for Our World Today by Jo and Walter Munz.
The eminent American Schweitzer scholar A.G. Rud praises her book as ‘a great advance in Schweitzer scholarship’, and so it is, drawing new fruits from a variety of international archives and creating a sensitive biographical narrative, suffused by a rigorous, undogmatic and compassionate judgement. A remarkable achievement, this compelling, meticulously researched biography restores Helene Schweitzer Bresslau to her proper stature in history as a modern professional woman of tremendous accomplishment, who, against the odds, fashioned an independent life for herself. As Marxsen makes clear in this readable study, Helene was more than the traditional, sacrificial good wife to a great man. Rather on her own terms she was a forceful humanitarian who played a significant role in the development and continuation of the Schweitzer Hospital in Gabon, West Africa. Based on new primary sources this is the first English language study of a woman whose international life offers new insights into a forgotten woman and her times. Helene Schweitzer did indeed have a life of her own that is worth remembering. In a new and thoughtful examination of the life of Helene Schweitzer, Patti Marxsen presents us with a picture of a resourceful, intelligent, independent-minded woman. Drawing on new primary material and recent publications, especially in German, she gives us an account of this remarkable woman, which is not compromised by being written in the shadow of her iconic husband. At once absorbing, moving and thought-provoking. Patti Marxsen’s book will challenge Schweitzer scholars to further consider the role and importance of Hélène Schweitzer. . . . I urge anyone interested in the legacy of Albert Schweitzer and his remarkable wife to read this book.
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