"[An] engrossing survey of the history of childbirth." —Stephen Lowman, Washington Post Making and having babies—what it takes to get pregnant, stay pregnant, and deliver—have mystified women and men throughout human history. The insatiably curious Randi Hutter Epstein journeys through history, fads, and fables, and to the fringe of science. Here is an entertaining must-read—an enlightening celebration of human life.

From a witty, relentlessly inquisitive medical writer comes an eye-opening history of pregnancy and birthing joys and debacles.

"[An] engrossing survey of the history of childbirth." —Stephen Lowman, Washington Post Making and having babies—what it takes to get pregnant, stay pregnant, and deliver—have mystified women and men throughout human history. The insatiably curious Randi Hutter Epstein journeys through history, fads, and fables, and to the fringe of science. Here is an entertaining must-read—an enlightening celebration of human life.

A Science News Favorite Science Book of 2018 “A sweeping, glorious story of hormones, threaded through with sex, suffering, neurology, biology, medicine, and self-discovery.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee Metabolism, behavior, sleep, mood swings, the immune system, fighting, fleeing, puberty, and sex: these are just a few of the things our bodies control with hormones. Armed with a healthy dose of wit and curiosity, medical journalist Randi Hutter Epstein reveals the “invigorating history” (Nature) of hormones and the age-old quest to control them through the back rooms, basements, and labs where endocrinology began.

Nursing History Review, an annual peer-reviewed publication of the American Association for the History of Nursing, is a showcase for the most significant current research on nursing history. Regular sections include scholarly articles, over a dozen book reviews of the best publications on nursing and health care history that have appeared in the past year, and a section abstracting new doctoral dissertations on nursing history. Historians, researchers, and individuals fascinated with the rich field of nursing will find this an important resource. Included in Volume 20... “To Help a Million Sick You Must Kill a Few Nurses”: Nurses’ Occupational Health, 1890–1914 “Who Would Know Better Than the Girls in White?” Nurses as Experts in Postwar Magazine Advertising, 1945–1950 Maternal Expectations: New Mothers, Nurses, and Breastfeeding Community Mental Health Nursing in Alberta, Canada: An Oral History “Time Enough! or Not Enough Time!” An Oral History Investigation of Some British and Australian Community Nurses’ Responses to Demands for “Efficiency” in Healthcare, 1960–2000 China Confidential: Methodological and Ethical Challenges in Global Nursing Historiography

An in-depth look at the mavericks, moments, and mistakes that sparked the greatest medical discoveries in modern times—plus the cures that will help us live longer and healthier lives in this century . . . and beyond. Human history hinges on the battle to confront our most dangerous enemies—the half-dozen diseases responsible for killing almost all of mankind. And while the story of our triumphs over these afflictions reveals an inspiring tapestry of human achievement, the journey was far from smooth. In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world’s greatest medical miracles. Discover fascinating true stories of scientists and doctors throughout history, including: Rival surgeons who killed patient after patient in their race to operate on beating hearts—and put us on the path toward the heart transplant A quartet of Canadians whose miraculous discovery of insulin was marred by jealousy and resentment The doctors who discovered penicillin, but were robbed of the credit The feud between two Americans in the quest for the polio vaccine A New York surgeon whose “heretical” idea to cure patients by deliberately infecting them has now inspired our next-best hope to defeat cancer A Hungarian doctor who solved the greatest mystery of maternal deaths in childbirth, only to be ostracized for his discovery The Masters of Medicine is a fascinating chronicle of human courage, audacity, error, and luck. This riveting ode to mankind reveals why the past is prelude to the game-changing breakthroughs of tomorrow.

This book reveals how giving birth is an inherently safe, relatively painless process that is best performed without the assistance of doctors or midwives, and how confidence and a positive attitude reduces fear—and therefore the pain—of labor. According to Laura Kaplan Shanley, a renowned leader in the natural-birth movement, human birth is inherently safe and relatively painless—provided we refrain from physical or psychological interference. The problems often associated with birth can be traced to three main factors: poverty, unnecessary medical intervention, and fear. When these causes are eliminated, most women can give birth either alone or with the help of a partner, friends, or family. This second edition of Unassisted Childbirth leads with a history of childbirth and then describes how most deliveries occur today, detailing why these processes don't serve mothers or babies. The information in this unique book gives women yet another legitimate choice in childbirth that doesn't rely on doctors and technology, and allows parents, birth professionals, and general readers to reexamine their most basic ideas about birth and learn to think in new ways.