Synopses & Reviews
From evolution to the epidural and beyond, Tina Cassidy presents a lively, enlightening, and impeccably researched cultural history of how and why we are born the way we are. Women have been giving birth for millennia, so why is it that every culture — and every generation — seems to have its own ideas about the best way to get a baby born? Among the topics that Tina Cassidy looks at are: why birth can be so difficult (blame our ability to walk on two legs, for instance), where women deliver, how the perception of midwives has changed (they were once burned as witches), the lives of some famous obstetricians, and the many ways childbirth has been deadly (lots of blame to go around). Birth is full of quirky details, startling facts, and tales both humorous and disturbing — from men disguised as women to get into delivery rooms to a news flash about a woman giving herself a C-section. From Jessica Mitford's seminal The American Way of Death to Mary Roach's Stiff, we've witnessed how millions of readers are fascinated by what happens at the end of life. Here is the riveting true story of how it begins.
Review
"Theres a collective, willful amnesia about birth as if its an alien visitation, rather than the normal order of things that has been begging for her clear-headed dissipation. We want it to be meaningful and we want it to be mercifully brief. This book is both." Alexandra Jacobs,The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Women have been giving birth for millennia, so why do all cultures and generations have their own ideas about childbirth? In Birth, Cassidy looks at why birth can be so difficult, where women deliver, how the perception of midwives and doctors have changed, and the fads of childbirth." Pregnancy & Childbirth