Tooth and Nail

A Syrian American surgeon chronicles her path to becoming one of New York City’s first female ring-side boxing doctors in this exhilarating memoir.
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.
A Boston Globe Best Sports Book of 2018
Praise for Tooth and Nail
“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 . . . Dahl’s punchy prose maintains two feet squarely on the ground, plugging away at the challenges she faced in the male-dominated worlds of medicine and boxing . . . In atavistic victory or poleaxed defeat, Dahl views her powerful reflection in a blood-sprayed mirror.” —Paste Magazine
“Entertaining. . . . Dahl offers a unique look at the world of boxing in this uplifting story about realizing one’s destiny.” —Publishers Weekly
“Dahl makes funny observations about the macho ringside crowd. . . . This is one fascinating tale.” —Booklist