Description
Book SynopsisBirthing the West shows how mothers and midwives created an informal but dynamic health care system in the Rockies and Plains between 1860 and 1940. Over time, public health entities usurped their power, with lasting impacts for women, families, and American identity.
Trade Review"An important and engaging read."—Meg Eppel Gudgeirsson,
Journal of Arizona History"While the book is of immediate interest to scholars of women's and reproductive history, all historians of the US West and Plains would be wise to include childbirth in their accounts of the region's transformations. Childbirth is a major event in the private lives of men and women but remains at the periphery of academic history. As Jennifer J. Hill demonstrates, both the act of childbirth and its attendant cultural meanings was a central plank in the territorial expansion of the United States."—Rachel Miller,
Nebraska History Magazine
"This is an excellent resource book about a subject seldom in the forefront of Western literature."—Candy Moulton,
True West"Hill provides a clear picture of the difficulties faced by pregnant women and the fundamentally important role that female community members—especially midwives—played in the settlement of the West."—Hannah Haksgaard,
Montana: The Magazine of Western History"This book is a compelling addition to the historiography of the American West and the history of medicine. Further, it would serve as an excellent supplement to any U.S. West survey course, providing a compelling narrative to restructure how we understand the history of westward expansion, midwifery, and women's labor."—Gianna May Sanchez,
South Dakota History"
Birthing the West conveys how power in intimate spaces was negotiated by women and, later, men as the northern plains region of the West became increasingly incorporated into centralized power structures."—Meg Frisbee,
Kansas History“Jennifer Hill puts women in the forefront of western history and shows the equal importance of women’s worlds in the settling of the West. She writes clearly, thoughtfully, and, in places, lyrically. Hill projects images wonderfully and makes her points well.”—Todd L. Savitt, author of
Race and Medicine in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century America“Hill’s work is very important to the historiography of the northern Great Plains states. Looking through the lens of childbirth provides unique perspectives on family formation, regional professionalization, and Great Plains settler colonialism. One of the exciting elements of this book is how women create community and ‘reproduce’ the state. There are good local stories here to enjoy.”—Molly P. Rozum, author of
Grasslands Grown: Creating Place on the U.S. Northern Plains and Canadian PrairiesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Birth in the Big Open
2. The Expertise of Women
3. Midwives among Us
4. The Practice of Birth
5. Death in the West
6. Birth Goes Public
7. Maternity Homes and Motherhood
Conclusion: What We Lost
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
