“Shaped by meticulous research, Inglis writes with clarity, pace, and a sharp eye for surprising detail.”
Alice Loxton, author of Eighteen and Uproar

“Deeply researched, smart, poignant, and witty.”
Karen Bloom Gevirtz, author of The Apothecary’s Wife

Women have been fighting for control over their bodies for thousands of years. From Neolithic hunter-gatherers to the reversal of Roe v. Wade, this is their story.

In Birth, acclaimed cultural historian Lucy Inglis takes readers on a sweeping journey through the history of reproduction, childbirth, and bodily autonomy across hundreds of thousands of years. Drawing together archaeology, medicine, science, and social history, she reveals the lived realities and competing ideologies that have shaped women’s lives across time.

From ancient Mesopotamian birthing practices and the lost contraceptives of Ancient Rome, to the extraordinary story of feminists who fought for the right to forget childbirth, Inglis traces a long and ongoing struggle for control over women’s bodies, a fight that continues in many parts of the world today.

At a moment when birth rates are falling and infant mortality is rising once more in many societies, this timely and urgent book asks how we think about pregnancy and motherhood now. Based on more than a decade of research and drawing on new and previously unseen sources, Birth charts the powerful interests, groundbreaking scientists, and political forces that have shaped maternal experience.

Clear-eyed, compelling, and deeply humane, this is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we all came to be here.