Description
Book SynopsisTraces the evolution of medical knowledge about the effects of alcohol on fetal development from nineteenth-century debates about drinking and heredity to the modern diagnosis of FAS and its kindred syndromes.
Trade ReviewEasy and interesting to read from a historical as well as from a sociological perspective. Doody's Book Review Service In this well-written book, Elizabeth Armstrong provides an in-depth analysis of fetal alcohol syndrome as a social problem. -- Virginia Chang American Journal of Sociology 2005 A welcome and long overdue critique of the knowledge production in the United States surrounding alcohol use by pregnant women and the diagnostic category of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Social History 2004 Excellent... FAS, because it is seen as preventable, allows society to blame pregnant women who transgress agreed-upon norms rather than seek solutions to the structural problems that lead to adverse birth outcomes and chronic alcohol consumption in the first place. -- Rebecca Tiger Theoretical Criminology 2006 An interesting and informative exploration of the construction of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) as a major social problem within the US. It combines an historical overview, epidemiological data, and qualitative interviewing to show clearly how moral values affect medical and policy pronouncements. -- Pam Lowe Sociology of Health and Illness 2006 The book succeeds as a social history of the medicalization of FAS. -- Constance Weisner, DrPH, MSW JAMA 2005 Armstrong fully explores how our propensity to apply medical labels to social phenomena is worked out within a particular cultural context. -- Mairead Moloney Social Forces A well-researched, highly readable, and convincing example of the ways in which modern medicine continues to create myths, stigmatize the poor and pathologize gender. -- Hera Cook Social History of Medicine A rich and highly readable descriptive account of the gendered politics of moral entrepreneurship in American health research and policy regarding FAS. -- Erica Prussing Medical Anthropology Quarterly 2004 Armstrong draws attention to some important questions about our perceptions of responsibility for alcohol related harm sustained during pregnancy... I hope that her book will lead to a healthy debate and a more objective ethical, medical and scientific approach to this field in the future. -- C. C. H. Cook Addiction 2004 An important book that offers a welcome critique of FAS as a social construct. -- Claudia Malacrida Health 2005 There is much to admire in Armstrong's account: her clever deconstruction of the advocates' invented history of FAS, her sure-handed discussion of the politics of reproduction, and her often-fascinating interview material. -- David T. Courtwright Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2004
