Overview

Women have long searched for a pleasing birth - a birth with a minimum of fear and pain, in the company of supportive family, friends, and caregivers, a birth that ends with a healthy mother and baby gazing into each other's eyes. For women in the Netherlands, such a birth is defined as one at home under the care of a midwife. In a country known for its liberal approach to drugs, prostitution, and euthanasia, government support for midwife-attended home birth is perhaps its most radical policy: every other modern nation regards birth as too risky to occur outside a hospital setting. In exploring the historical, social, and cultural customs responsible for the Dutch way of birth, Raymond De Vries opens a new page in the analysis of health care and explains why maternal care reform has proven so difficult in the U.S. He carefully documents the way culture shapes the organization of health care, showing how the unique maternity care system of the Netherlands is the result of Dutch ideas about home, the family, women, the body and pain, thriftiness, heroes, and solidarity. A Pleasing Birth breaks new ground and closes gaps in our knowledge of the social and cultural foundations of health care. Offering a view into the Dutch notion of maternity care, De Vries also offers a chance of imagining how Dutch practices can reform health care in the U.S. not just for mothers and babies, but for all Americans.

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9781592131037

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Reviews

"""A Pleasing Birth is a sociological analysis of maternity care and midwifery as provided in the Netherlands; the analysis ranges from the micro- to the macro-level. DeVries provides the reader with variety of sociological evidence, such as historical data, comparative statistical date, and interviews with midwives and obstetricians. DeVries starts with an interesting story in the Preface. The book is very readable, has a good Glossary, and is well indexed."" Sociology of Health and Illness ""The insights that [DeVries] brings are fascinating. [I]t provides a greater understanding for those who wish to influence and change health policy."" Sociology of Health and Illness ""[DeVries'] book is a close examination of the attitudes, statistics, traditions of resisting professional interference, politics, and legislation of healthcare and much more, and it gives the reader a full understanding of The Netherlands' remarkable achievements in the realm of healthy pregnancy and birth."" Midwifery Today ""This is a rewarding book to read."" Sociological Research Online ""Readers from across the spectrum of participants in childbirth are urged to read this critical and important contribution to the literature, bearing witness to women's physiological capacity to give birth without assistance, to experience 'a pleasing birth.'"" Birth ""A Pleasing Birth reminds me of a painting by the 17th century Dutch artist, Vermeer. De Vries works on a small canvas--maternity care in the Netherlands--yet his study is filled with detail, depth, and illumination. The author examines the structural and cultural reasons for the unique qualities of the Dutch way of birth, but he offers much more in this meticulously researched and documented book."" Contemporary Sociology"

A Pleasing Birth is a sociological analysis of maternity care and midwifery as provided in the Netherlands; the analysis ranges from the micro- to the macro-level. DeVries provides the reader with variety of sociological evidence, such as historical data, comparative statistical date, and interviews with midwives and obstetricians. DeVries starts with an interesting story in the Preface. The book is very readable, has a good Glossary, and is well indexed. Sociology of Health and Illness The insights that [DeVries] brings are fascinating. [I]t provides a greater understanding for those who wish to influence and change health policy. Sociology of Health and Illness [DeVries'] book is a close examination of the attitudes, statistics, traditions of resisting professional interference, politics, and legislation of healthcare and much more, and it gives the reader a full understanding of The Netherlands' remarkable achievements in the realm of healthy pregnancy and birth. Midwifery Today This is a rewarding book to read. Sociological Research Online Readers from across the spectrum of participants in childbirth are urged to read this critical and important contribution to the literature, bearing witness to women's physiological capacity to give birth without assistance, to experience 'a pleasing birth.' Birth A Pleasing Birth reminds me of a painting by the 17th century Dutch artist, Vermeer. De Vries works on a small canvas--maternity care in the Netherlands--yet his study is filled with detail, depth, and illumination. The author examines the structural and cultural reasons for the unique qualities of the Dutch way of birth, but he offers much more in this meticulously researched and documented book. Contemporary Sociology

Author Information

Raymond De Vries is Professor of Sociology at St. Olaf College. He is the author and editor of seven previous books, including, most recently, Making Midwives Legal: Childbirth, Medicine, and the Law.

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