(excerpt) "Baffled by the broad variety and diversity of nursing and unable to discover one single common thread of thought and discussion in the literature, I got desperate and finally turned to Dean Brown for help, hoping to get some viable direction. And, indeed, I did, yet of course not the way I expected. When I asked her if she would be so kind as to name me the standard instruction textbook used for nursing education and practice, she unhesitatingly replied: 'There isn’t one. Because there are so many content areas in nursing, there is no one text that is considered the ultimate one that must be used by all.' And when further asked about the 'reference work for the history of nursing in the US' her reply was: 'I don’t think there is one most reliable source.' So there I was, my puzzlement now confirmed by a knowledgeable authority."