Born
A History of Childbirth
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A groundbreaking history of childbirth filled with medical, political, and social triumphs, Born is the story of how we give birth set against the female struggle to govern their ability to reproduce.
Born moves around over time and large geographical, social, and cultural distances, but returns continually to a series of themes: the experience of pregnancy, the act of childbirth, and latterly, the fight for reproductive autonomy.
Whatever their ultimate outcomes, pregnancy and the act of childbirth are at once an individual and communal event. No two births are the same, yet the history of childbirth informs us about so much more than this intimate moment in the lives of a woman and her offspring. The act of childbirth informs us as unique individuals, yet at the same moment makes us part of something much greater than ourselves.
This book is the sum of many stories that combine war, art, science, and politics with the fundamental act of human existence. It is not a book about parenting or motherhood beyond the moment of delivery and the short time afterward. Instead, this is a story of the evolving role pregnancy and childbirth have played in societies through history, of the mysticism, the practicalities, and the power struggles that have shaped nations, yet also, individual identities.
Our narrative starts out in prehistory and ends now, with the reversal of Roe v. Wade, taking in mother-and-child bone fragments of the Ice Age, the cries from the medieval birthing chair, and the calls to rally of our modern age. This is how we are Born.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Despite what some natural birth enthusiasts might imply, there was never a time when women gave birth without pain, according to this eloquent account from historian Inglis (Milk of Paradise). Childbirth, she argues, has always been fraught with danger, underscored by hope, and communal, with "every successful birth... a small victory for humanity." The book begins in prehistory, showcasing how birth was both a struggle and a place for innovation: the first known pregnancy test, from 1350 BCE, involved having a pregnant woman pee on barley and wheat (it was amazingly pretty accurate); women would nurse puppies to take care of oversupply before breast pumps were invented; ancient Egyptians used mysterious objects called "birthing bricks," whose purpose is "a source of great contention among historians." Among Inglis's aims is to show that premodern people, from the ancient Greeks to the 18th century, well understood anatomy and medicine, but that poor implementation, warped by politics or economics, could lead to unnecessary tragedy—such as when male Renaissance midwives invented forceps but made them proprietary and thus difficult to access. Turning to 20th-century eugenics and abortion rights, Inglis depicts birth as increasingly central to political power struggles. With birth stories from the author's own family gracefully woven in, the result is a nuanced and tender look at an intimate yet universal human experience.
