Title: Birth: The Surprising History of How We are Born

Author: Tina Cassidy

Publisher: Atlantic 2006

Genre: Nonfiction, Medical

Pages: 312

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nerdy Nonfiction - Health, Medicine; Women Authors; Library Loan; 52 Books in 52 Weeks -- W17

How I Got It: Library loan

Published to widespread acclaim, Tina Cassidy’s smart, engaging book is the first world history of childbirth in fifty years. From evolution to the epidural and beyond, Tina Cassidy presents an intelligent, enlightening, and impeccably researched cultural history of how and why we’re born the way we are. Women have been giving birth for millennia but that’s about the only constant in the final stage of the great process that is human reproduction. Why is it that every culture and generation seems to have its own ideas about the best way to give birth? Cassidy explores the physical, anthropological, political, and religious factors that have and will continue to influence how women bring new life into the world.

Another book that's been on my TBR list for a while now.  I finally grabbed it at the library and dove in.  Cassidy's writing reminds of Mary Roach.  Cassidy's not as funny, but definitely crafts a story out of a tons of medical knowledge.  I was entertaining, and at times, disgusted by the ignorance and misinformation in childbirth history.  Overall, the story makes me feel very lucky at giving birth in the 21st century.  I'm sure it will continue to improve, but my options are very good right now.  Just a warning: don't read if you're squeamish...