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9781501740473

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This animated, richly documented, and cross-disciplinary study has the essential ingredients of a broadly appealing book. It also makes an original contribution to scholarship by systematically examining pre-modern Caesarean section under two complementary aspects, namely as a topos by itself and as a touchstone of the fate of medieval women. -- Luke Demaitre, Pace University Blumenfeld-Kosinski's exploration of Caesarean birth offers new and unexpected vistas into the lives and thoughts of medieval and Renaissance women and men. -- Brigitte Cazelles, Stanford University Vividly tracing the evolution of Caesarean birth from the early 1300s (when the operation was performed almost exclusively by midwives) through the Renaissance period (when midwives were considered witches and male surgeons took control), Blumenfeld-Kosinski... does more than provide [an] engrossingly accessible, historical account of the now-commonplace procedure-she unveils the roots of a medical misogyny that still prevails today. A richly cross-disciplined study utilizing depictions of Caesarean delivery in art, literature, and medical texts and illuminations (illustrations), [this book] is a captivating and revealing work that will be relished by readers of medical and cultural history, as well as by those who are interested in the subject of male dominance over women. * Publishers Weekly *

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Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski is Distinguished Professor of French at the University of Pittsburgh.

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