In her superb history of the Lamaze - or more accurately, the psychoprophylactic - technique, Paula Michaels shows how transformations in the management of childbirth also mediated the international and domestic rivalries of Cold War politics. ...Michaels has succeeded in producing an innovative, refreshing and insightful book.
Reviews in History
A compellingly written history of ... Read morean enormously popular method of childbirth, this narrative takes readers from the city of Kharkov in the 1930s, to Paris in the 1950s, and finally to the United States up into the 1970s. How this method traveled across borders and even the Iron Curtain is remarkable and beautifully conveyed here. Perhaps even more extraordinary is the fact that a process promoted by Stalin and his supporters could come to symbolize American women's liberation in the 1970s. While a work of history of medicine, this is also clearly a transnational history, a social history, a political history, and an intellectual history.
Wendy Kline, author of Bodies of Knowledge: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Women's Health in the Second Wave
Lamaze may be a household word in the United States but few if any of the many pregnant women who have used the technique know its surprising international history. Originating in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, subsequently enjoying a temporary popularity in France, the Lamaze method found an enduring home only in the United States. Paula Michaels explains why. In recognizing that medicine is far from a dispassionate science and that the political, economic, and cultural institutions within countries constantly shape and reshape medical practice, Michaels brings to life the fascinating history of a childbirth preparation method that transformed the attitudes of multiple generations of women toward giving birth.
Jacqueline H. Wolf, author of Deliver Me from Pain: Anesthesia and Birth in America
Michaels has managed the enviable feat of producing a comprehensive scholarly review that is both accessible and engaging. She draws on the disciplines of sociology, psychology, and political science to situate the startling history of Lamaze within the political imperatives of the postwar Soviet Union, France, and the United States. ... Lamaze: An International History is an excellent example of interdisciplinary history, situating historical facts within the sociological and political framework of each time and culture in which it became established.
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Shortlisted for the General History Prize for the 2014 New South Wales Premier's History Awards Show Less