The Empty Cradle: Infertility in America from Colonial Times to the Present

Author:   Margaret Marsh (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) ,  Wanda Ronner
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9780801861765


Pages:   344
Publication Date:   12 July 1999
Recommended Age:   From 17
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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The Empty Cradle: Infertility in America from Colonial Times to the Present


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Overview

An exploration into the origins of the many misconceptions surrounding infertility and examination of how medical and cultural beliefs emerged throughout the history of infertility. Drawing on a variety of sources - including intimate diaries and letters, patient records, memoirs, medical literature and popular magazines - the authors investigate the social, cultural, scientific and medical dimensions of infertility over the past 300 years. The authors discuss reactions - among both physicians and husbands - to the emerging scientific evidence that infertility was a condition for which men and women bear equal responsibility. The book concludes that infertility is still a subject affected by myth and misunderstanding. The work seeks to present a useful perspective to current debates about how we should think about and address the experience of infertility in our own time.

Full Product Details

Author:   Margaret Marsh (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) ,  Wanda Ronner
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.482kg
ISBN:  

9780801861765


ISBN 10:   0801861764
Pages:   344
Publication Date:   12 July 1999
Recommended Age:   From 17
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

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Reviews

'The Empty Cradle' brilliantly illuminates how American families and physicians struggled with infertility and responded to the shifting scientific and cultural meaning of procreation. It is a beautifully written and incisive account of an important subject. --Janet Golden, Rutgers University, Camden, author of 'A Social History of Wet Nursing: From Breast to Bottle' For all the interest in demography, women's history, and reproductive issues in the last twenty years, no previous study has attempted to place American infertility--as distinguished from fertility and fertility regulation--into historical perspective. This excellent book will receive well-deserved attention. --James Mohr, University of Oregon


[Marsh and Ronner make for a] highly successful combination in which faultless clinical detail and a broad social and cultural approach are seamlessly woven to produce a very impressive and beautifully written historical work of the first importance. -- Irvine Louden Journal of the Social History of Medicine Marsh and Ronner have sought to go beyond the published medical literature to disclose the voices of those most affected by the physiological and cultural condition of infertility... they have restored to the historical record the anguish and the hopes of women who experienced infertility. -- Rima D. Apple American Historical Review The book's lucid explanations of medical terms and procedures will allow me to recommend it to my infertility patients. I plan to do so, trusting that it will give them a new perspective on their predicament. Knowing that it provided me a new perspective on both infertility and the practice of gynecology, I will also assign it an honored place in my medical library. -- Janet E. Shepherd, M.D. Journal of the American Medical Association Demonstrates the profound impact of politics as well as culture on the development of medical practice. It is an excellent model for future scholarship on the complex relationship between science and society. -- Elaine Tyler May Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences


Author Information

Margaret Marsh, Ph.D., the author of Suburban Lives and Anarchist Women, 1870-1920, is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and and professor of history at Rutgers University, Camden.Wanda Ronner, M.D., is an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

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