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Nina Rattner Gelbart is Professor of History and the History of Science at Occidental College, Los Angeles, and author of Feminine and Opposition Journalism in Old Regime France: ""Le Journal des Dames"" (California, 1987), which won the Sierra Prize.
Managing to make this penetrating and original work of social history read like a novel, Gelbart vividly recreates - against a backdrop of France on the eve of revolution - the life and times of the 18th century's most famous midwife. Charismatic teacher, talented administrator and astute businesswoman, du Coudray was commissioned by Louis XV to teach the art of childbirth to illiterate peasant women. Reaching thousands of women, and training hundreds to become midwives, she wrote a textbook and invented a life-size obstetrical mannequin for her demonstrations. The first book-length treatment of this key figure in French medical history, this fascinating volume not only presents the reader with an unforgettable picture of early modern childbirth, but tells the story of an incredibly tenacious and brilliant woman. (Kirkus UK)
