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BOOKS

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.

LITERARY PRESS

Dr. Linda Dahl on WBUR
Dr. Linda Dahl in Forbes Magazine
Dr. Linda Dahl in the New York Post
Dr. Linda Dahl on Fox 5 News
Dr. Linda Dahl in the Washington Post
Dr. Linda Dahl in PASTE magazine

REVIEWS

"....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 ... Love boxing or hate boxing, you will tumble for this book.

 

Jeffrey Kluger, author of Apollo 13 and Apollo 8

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"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

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“Well-written, compelling, and revealing.”

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Ronald Epstein, M.D., author of Attending

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

 

Publishers Weekly

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