Drawing on her long experience as an academic researcher and writer, Ann Oakley develops a sociology of the research process itself, telling the story of how a research project is undertaken and what happens during it, to both researchers and those who are researched. This remarkable book focuses on a topic of great importance in the provision of health services – caring and social support. Setting neglect of this topic in the wider context of an ongoing crisis in gendering knowledge, Social support and motherhood is now reissued for a contemporary audience. It has much resonance for social science researchers and others interested in the experiences of mothers, and in the relations between social research, academic knowledge and public policy.

The latest volume in this series revisits topics particularly pertinent to the postnatal period. It makes a timely contribution to the literature in the context of recent developments in the organisation of midwifery care, the emphasis on woman-centred care and empowerment, and the reclaiming by midwives of the normal birth and puerperium.

This book is written with both degree and diploma student midwives in mind. It is split into two sections, each alphabetical. The first section contains some of the language of midwifery: terms, abbreviations and definitions. The second section contains common conditions, procedures, emergency situations, and supporting information. Each topic includes further factors that involve recognition, prevention, and actions to take in an emergency situation that may be in the form of flow/action charts. The procedures that are included have an overview of the 'how to', (frequently including the preparation needed); and the 'why', supported by research or evidence, and Midwives’ rules and standards (NMC 2004b) and The NMC code of professional conduct: standards for conduct, performance and ethics (NMC 2004a). The references used provide useful evidence to support practice. Finally, the supporting information is varied and ranges from details about Government and international initiatives to available support groups and useful websites.

Midwives, Society and Childbirth is the first book to examine midwives' lives and work in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries on a national and international scale. Focusing on six countries from Europe, the approach is interdisciplinary with the studies written by a diverse team of social, medical and midwifery historians, sociologists, and those with experience in delivering childbirth services. Questioning for the first time many conventional historical assumptions, this book is fundamental to a better understanding of the effect on midwives of the unprecedented progress of science in general and obstetric science in particular from the late nineteenth century. The contributors challenge the traditional bleak picture of midwives' decline in the face of institutional obstetrics, medical technology, and the growing power of the medical profession, while stressing the importance of regional influences and locality. Dr Anne Marie Rafferty, Philadelphia, Dr Hilary Marland, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Dr Irvine Louden, Oxfordshire, Joan Mottram, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medic

This book recounts the journey of English midwives over six centuries and their battle for survival as a discrete profession, caring safely for childbearing women. With a particular focus on sixteenth and twentieth century midwifery practice, it includes new research which provides evidence of the identity, social status, lives, families and practice of contemporary midwives, and argues that the excellent care given by ecclesiastically licensed midwives in Tudor England was not bettered until the twentieth century. Relying on a wide variety of archived and personally collected material, this history illuminates the lives, words, professional experiences and outcomes of midwives. It explores the place of women in society, the development of midwifery education and regulation, the seventeenth century arrival of the accoucheurs and the continuing drive by obstetricians to medicalise birth. A fascinating and compelling read, it highlights the politics and challenges that have shaped midwifery practice today and encourages readers to be confident in midwifery-led care and giving women choices in childbirth. It is an important read for all those interested in childbirth.

"Collection of incunabula and early medical prints in the library of the Surgeon-general's office, U.S. Army": Ser. 3, v. 10, p. 1415-1436.