Tooth and Nail: The Making of a Female Fight Doctor

by Linda D. Dahl Narrated by JULIA WHELAN

Overview

Fresh out of medical school, Linda Dahl began her surgical residency in the Bronx as a total fish out of water. Growing up in a Middle Eastern family in the American Midwest, she was a born outsider, and in her new community in New York, she felt even more isolated. Even at work she struggled to fit in: among her fellow specialists, she was one of the only women.

One night, at her husband's urging, Dahl watched a boxing match between Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya. Seeing Mosley survive against the odds gave Dahl hope that she, too, could find her footing. As her fandom grew, boxing became a way to connect with her patients and community. Later, when she was in practice on the Upper East Side, Dahl received a phone call from the New York State Athletic Commission. They were looking for a fight doctor. Dahl accepted.

Tooth and Nail chronicles the years Dahl spent as an ear, nose and throat surgeon by day and a ringside physician by night. Intrepid, adrenaline-fueled and loaded with behind-the-scenes takes on famous boxers, including Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko and Miguel Cotto, Dahl's story offers a modern examination of sexism, dislocation, the theater of boxing and a road map for how to excel in two very different male-dominated worlds.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

05/28/2018
In this entertaining memoir, Dahl details her road to becoming one of the only female fight doctors. Raised in the Midwest by Syrian immigrant parents, Dahl was a surgical resident living in the Bronx when she became enthralled with boxing while watching a fight between Shane Mosley and Oscar de la Hoya in 2000. She eventually landed an uninspiring job as a hospital ear, nose, throat physician; but her boxing passion led her to work secretly as a fight doctor at professional fights. She recounts one of her first fights, when she realized after the first round that the Venezuelan fighter had been hit below the belt, “his traumatic hernia blossoming,” but he refused to have her check him in public. While she earned the trust of fighters, men throughout the boxing world continued to fawn over her good looks (“deflecting attention became a bigger job than working the fights”). It wasn’t until she was working a fight between Miguel Cotto and Paulie Malignaggi that her professional life took a turn. The fight had been aired on television, and her secret became known at the hospital. Head physicians congratulated her on her selfless work, and her newfound confidence gave her courage to start her own practice. Dahl offers a unique look at the world of boxing in this uplifting story about realizing one’s destiny. (July)

From the Publisher

"Noise, blood and adrenalin, pressure, excitement and money-Tooth and Nail gives the reader a ringside seat alongside a young doctor as she treats injured boxers in a succession of brutal professional bouts. Linda Dahl is one of those rare writers who, like the fighters she cares for, has strength and style, grit and grace."—Judy Melinek, M.D., New York Times bestselling co-author with T.J. Mitchell of Working Stiff

"In describing in vivid detail the most violent of human sports, Dr Linda Dahl exposes her life of violence-in her family, in her surgical training, and in doctoring New York's elite-and how she learned, from the most unlikely of sources within and outside of the boxing ring, to transform herself from observer and willing victim of violence towards self-awareness, self-confidence, and mastery of her craft. Well-written, compelling, and revealing, Tooth and Nail provides unvarnished insights about power, sexuality, professional identity, and personal transformation-in the ring and in the clinic."-Ronald Epstein, M.D., author of Attending



“The human face was not built to be punched, but if you’re a boxer, that’s unavoidable—and you’re going to need some first-rate doctoring to put you back together as the need arises. Most of us don’t think much about the work fight doctors do, which is why we’re fortunate that Linda D. Dahl, the rare female M.D. to work the professional fight circuit, has written this smart, funny, poignant account of what she saw and learned in locker rooms, gyms and on the ringsides of bouts. It’s a tale of medicine and feminism and quirky characters in dramatic settings. And it’s one that may make you look at boxing in a new way. “I felt raw and alive,” Dahl writes about her emotions after working a fight. “This violence didn’t seem wrong. It seemed honest. It gave these men an outlet I didn’t have…” Love boxing or hate boxing, you will tumble for this book.—Jeffrey Kluger, author of Apollo 13 and Apollo 8



“It’s strange: I hate boxing but I love this book. Dahl’s tale of identity, femininity and power shines brightly as proof that inspiration and mentorship can spring from the unlikeliest of sources. I rooted for her every step along the way and, at the end, had to applaud her for pioneering an odd but compelling genre of memoir that I can only describe as ‘grit-glam.’”—Katrina Firlik, M.D., author of Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside



“Ever wonder what happens to a fighter after he’s been pummeled in the ring? Ever wonder what it’s like to be a woman trying to prove, even to herself, that she belongs in a male-dominated world? In Tooth and Nail, Linda Dahl pulls back the curtain on both. I was absolutely enthralled by Dahl’s journey from Upper East-Side physician to Madison Square Garden fight doctor, and you will be too. Rife with gender politics and one woman’s struggle to belong, this book is timely. But it’s also just a good story well-told. Read it.”—Kevin Hazzard, author of A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back



"[An] entertaining memoir.... Dahl offers a unique look at the world of boxing in this uplifting story about realizing one’s destiny."—Publishers Weekly



"A fascinating tale."—Booklist



“Tooth and Nail tackles not only sexism but racism, classism, alienation, desperation and the practical benefits of cultivating an inner dominatrix. In examining the classic fight to survive with a lens that feels paradoxically universal and unique, Dahl has written a memoir with enough fisticuffs for the fight fan, enough medicine for the scalpel supplicant and enough human drama for anyone who has ever felt alienated.”—Paste Magazine



“A delightfully colorful memoir… Dahl recounts her journey, starting with her Midwestern roots to becoming a doctor with some of the best stories at any dinner table.”—Washington Post's The Lily



“Funny, candid and easy to follow. Dahl talks boxing, but the book is more of a memoir about a young woman's quest to succeed on her terms.”—The Oklahoman

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170384679
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/24/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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