Why read Brought to Bed?

Book cover of Brought to Bed: Childbearing in America, 1750-1950

Book description

This is a comprehensive history of women and childbirth in America. Many of the basic changes that have occurred since 1750 resulted from two factors: the replacement of midwives and other female support systems by male doctors in the actual delivery process, and the movement of childbirth from the home…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Brought to Bed as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Katherine Paugh

Author

It is a sign of our shocking historical amnesia regarding American women’s reproductive lives that this remarkable book is out of print. Leavitt discusses the long history of American women’s childbearing lives, moving from colonial times through the twentieth century and charting along the way women’s loss of control over their reproductive lives as they moved away from births at home, attended by friends and neighbors, and toward birth in hospitals where their freedom of choice was increasingly restricted. To understand the dark side of the ‘twilight sleep’ procedures depicted in The Crown or Mad Men, read Chapter 5…

From Katherine's list on The best books for putting the Dobbs decision in deep historical context.