Although she remains a pioneering nurse and the iconic figure of the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale was above all a reformer, suggests Hugh Small in this biography. In 1872, Nightingale persuaded Parliament to pass laws which required landlords to improve sanitation in working-class homes; life expectancy increased dramatically as a result, and it was this peacetime civilian public health reform rather than her wartime record that established Nightingale's reputation in her lifetime. Small also chronicles the nurse's formative years, discussing the relevance of Nightingale's affluent family and her Unitarian faith.