Midwifery And Childbirth in America
Until the late 18th century, childbirth was almost exclusively a female event. Then advances in medical science and technology brought male physicians into a dominant role. Rooks, a nurse midwife, has written a detailed history of midwifery in the United States, sensitively examining the different training and outlooks of nurse midwives and physicians. Rooks discusses what each profession brings to childbirth, conflicts and collaborations, the development of training standards for midwives, and the influence of recent changes in healthcare delivery systems. She contrasts care in the United States with that in other developed countries, where midwives provide most routine care and infant mortality rates are lower. Her book covers a longer time period in greater detail than Judith Walzer Leavitt's Brought to Bed: Childbirth in America 1750-1950 (Oxford Univ., 1986). With an extensive bibliography; recommended for academic and health sciences collections.?Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., Cal.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.