Product Description

Having a baby is an elemental human experience profound, even sacred to some women and their families. At the same time, it is a significant component of health care. The medical model of childbirth emphasizes the pathological potential of pregnancy and birth, while an alternative model championed by midwives focuses on the normalcy of pregnancy and its potential for health. Now available in paperback, this definitive account of the many forces that intersect over the issue of childbirth explains in a comprehensive and authoritative manner the conceptual and philosophical differences between these models. The author has brought together in a clear and readable fashion the myriad strands of history, culture, science, economics, and policy that have resulted in the current condition of maternity care in the United States. She describes the disparate backgrounds, training, and roles of certified nurse-midwives and lay or direct entry midwives, and explains the contributions of both groups. Rooks believes that maternity care and childbirth in America can, and should, be better than it is today, and offers steps to take in the direction. Author note: Judith Rooks is a nurse-midwife and epidemiologist with a long career in public health. She has taught in a school of nursing, a school of medicine, and a school of midwifery. The author of more than 50 scientific and professional papers, she is also past-president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. She is an Associate of the Pacific Institute for Women's Health in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #519867 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 548 pages

From Library Journal
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.

Review
"...clear, articulate, and well-researched work... [It] is a treasure trove of information and resources to everyone who works in the maternity services, to policy-makers, and to women. No library or bookshelf should be without it. This scholarly treatise is the most exhaustive, balanced, and comprehensive book on midwifery that has been written, and it will serve as an impetus and inspiration to a broad audience." --Birth "We have been waiting a long time for this book: a comprehensive, readable, and authoritative discussion of the important role of midwifery in the United States. It will spark a passionate--and long overdue--dialogue about the way pregnant women are taken care of in this country." --Roger A. Rosenblatt, MD, MPH, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle "Rooks has written a comprehensive, balanced and eminently readable book." --The Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering

From the Publisher
The definitive account of the many forces that intersect over the issue of childbirth

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive, balanced, readable, an outstanding book!!
Every profession should be so lucky to have someone write a book like this! Rooks has comprehensively and sytematically reviewed the scientific literature pertaining to the care of pregnant and birthing women and the issues of from whom, where, and under what conditions they receive care from health professionals. She writes in a readable, straightforward manner that makes her book useful and accessible to consumers and health care providers. The author is a Centers for Disease Control-educated epidemiologist and a certified nurse-midwife who has evaluated maternal and women's health programs abroad and conducted several major research projects in the United States.

The presentation of the facts in this book blew me away!
Rooks is a great researcher and puts the facts down in readable language without blame on doctors nurses midwives or parents. Most objective book on this highly controversial subject matter.

The Best Book on Midwifery
Judith Pence Rooks has written the best book available in the subject of Midwifery. It is a complete history, and is extremely well-written. It includes a comprehensive bibliography. For those of us who have had multiple home-births it is an invaluable resource. This will doubtless be the standard reference for years to come. We hope it will encourage the home-birth movement, and the use of mid-wives, as a safer alternative to physicians, in the United States.