Women have been fighting for control over their bodies for thousands of years. From Neolithic hunter-gatherers to the reversal of Roe v. Wade, this is their story.
Acclaimed cultural historian Lucy Inglis takes the reader on an epic journey through the stories of women over hundreds of thousands of years. From ancient Mesopotamian birthing practices to the lost contraceptives of Ancient Rome and the strange story of the feminists who fought for the right to forget childbirth, this is a truly sweeping history that explores the competing ideologies and lived realities that have shaped so many lives.
Lucy Inglis charts the battle for control throughout history over reproduction, birth and womens bodies - a fight still raging in many places across the world. With birth rates falling and infant mortality in many societies on the rise once more, this bold and timely book raises vital questions about how we think about motherhood and pregnancy today. Lucy Inglis has spent over a decade researching the history of childbirth, drawing on new and unseen sources from a wide-ranging array of disciplines.
Charting the powerful interests and dedicated scientists that have shaped womens maternal experiences, this is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand how we all came to be here.
Recenzijos
Deeply researched, smart, poignant, and witty By placing birth rather than violence, language, or even taxes as humanitys constant, Inglis offers a compelling new view of both history and the present. -- Karen Bloom Gevirtz
Daugiau informacijos
Women have been fighting for control over their bodies for thousands of years. From Neolithic hunter-gatherers to the reversal of Roe v. Wade, this is their story.
Introduction
1. The Realm of Women
2. The Realm of Men
3. Darkness Falls
4. The Rise of the Machines
5. Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy
6. The Numbers Game
7. Something Wicked This Way Comes
8. A Violent and Messianic Age
9. Living Memory
Acknowledgements
Images Credits
Notes
Selected Further Reading
Index
Lucy Inglis is a historian and novelist, and occasionally a television and radio presenter. Her first book Georgian London: Into the Streets was a finalist for the History Today Longman Prize. Her second novel, Crow Mountain, won the Romantic Novelist Associations Young Adult Book of the Year. Lucy is also the author of the international bestseller Milk of Paradise: A History of Opium, which was Book of the Week for Radio 4 and The Sunday Times. She lives in London with her husband and their wire-haired dachshund.
