SUMMARY
A Midwife's Tale, which aired on PBS in January, 1997, as part of the "American Experience" collection, is the documentary based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative of the same name written by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The book, based on the diary of Martha Ballard, details her life beginning in 1785, when she was 50, and ending with her death in 1812. Ballard's diary records her work as a midwife and her home life in the Kennebec River region of Maine, and the book contains selections from Ballard's diary followed by explanations and details by Ulrich. The film, directed by Richard P. Rogers and written and produced by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, follows much the same pattern.