Main description:

From contraception to cloning and pregnancy to populations, reproduction presents urgent challenges today. This field-defining history synthesizes a vast amount of scholarship to take the long view. Spanning from antiquity to the present day, the book focuses on the Mediterranean, western Europe, North America and their empires. It combines history of science, technology and medicine with social, cultural and demographic accounts. Ranging from the most intimate experiences to planetary policy, it tells new stories and revises received ideas. An international team of scholars asks how modern 'reproduction' - an abstract process of perpetuating living organisms - replaced the old 'generation' - the active making of humans and beasts, plants and even minerals. Striking illustrations invite readers to explore artefacts, from an ancient Egyptian fertility figurine to the announcement of the first test-tube baby. Authoritative and accessible, Reproduction offers students and non-specialists an essential starting point and sets fresh agendas for research.

Contents:

List of colour exhibits; List of illustrations; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Notes on the frontispieces; Introduction; 1. Reproduction in history Nick Hopwood, Rebecca Flemming and Lauren Kassell; Part I. Inventing Generation: Introduction to Part I Rebecca Flemming; 2. Phallic fertility in the Ancient Near East and Egypt Stephanie Lynn Budin; 3. Women and doctors in ancient Greece Helen King; 4. Animal and plant generation in classical antiquity Laurence M. V. Totelin; 5. States and populations in the classical world Rebecca Flemming; 6. The ancient family and the law Tim Parkin; 7. Galen's generations of seeds Rebecca Flemming; 8. Debating the soul in late antiquity Marie-Helene Congourdeau; Part II. Generation Reborn and Reformed: Introduction to Part II Lauren Kassell; 9. Generation in medieval Islamic medicine Nahyan Fancy; 10. The multitude in later medieval thought Peter Biller; 11. Managing childbirth and fertility in medieval Europe Katharine Park; 12. Formed fetuses and healthy children in scholastic theology, medicine and law Maaike van der Lugt; 13. Generation between script and print Peter Murray Jones; 14. Innate heat, radical moisture and generation Gianna Pomata; 15. Pictures and analogies in the anatomy of generation Karin Ekholm; 16. Fruitful bodies and astrological medicine Lauren Kassell; 17. Family resemblance in the old regime Silvia De Renzi; 18. The emergence of population Philip Kreager; 19. Generation in the Ottoman world Miri Shefer-Mossensohn and Rebecca Flemming; Part III. Inventing Reproduction: Introduction to Part III Nick Hopwood; 20. The keywords 'generation' and 'reproduction' Nick Hopwood; 21. Linnaeus and the love lives of plants Staffan Muller-Wille; 22. Man-midwifery revisited Mary E. Fissell; 23. Biopolitics and the invention of population Andrea Rusnock; 24. Marriage and fertility in different household systems Richard M. Smith; 25. Colonialism and the emergence of racial theories Renato G. Mazzolini; 26. Talking origins James A. Secord; Part IV. Modern Reproduction: Introduction to Part IV Nick Hopwood; 27. Breeding farm animals and humans Sarah Wilmot; 28. Eggs and sperm as germ cells Florence Vienne; 29. Movements to separate sex and reproduction Lesley A. Hall; 30. Fertility transitions and sexually transmitted infections Simon Szreter; 31. Modern infertility Christina Benninghaus; 32. Modern ignorance Kate Fisher; 33. Imperial encounters Philippa Levine; Part V. Reproduction Centre Stage: Introduction to Part V Nick Hopwood; 34. World population from eugenics to climate change Alison Bashford; 35. Sex hormones, pharmacy and the reproductive sciences Jean-Paul Gaudilliere: 36. Technologies of contraception and abortion Jesse Olszynko-Gryn; 37. Hospital birth Salim Al-Gailani; 38. Prenatal diagnosis, surveillance and risk Ilana Loewy; 39. Artificial fertilization Nick Hopwood; 40. Modern law and regulation Martin H. Johnson and Nick Hopwood; 41. Sex, gender and babies John Forrester; 42. Feminism and reproduction Sarah Franklin; 43. Globalization Nick Hopwood; Epilogue; 44. Concluding reflections Nick Hopwood, Rebecca Flemming and Lauren Kassell; Select bibliography; Index; Colour exhibits Rune Nyord, Annetta Alexandridis, Eleanor Robson, Fay Glinister, Jessica Hughes, Ralph Jackson, Veronique Dasen, Margot E. Fassler, Gabriella Zuccolin, Lauren Kassell, Lea T. Olsan, Patricia Simons, Jennifer Spinks, Karin Ekholm, Sandra Cavallo, Rina Knoeff, Lianne McTavish, Lisa Forman Cody, Mary Terrall, Lucia Dacome, Ludmilla Jordanova, Nick Hopwood, Rebecca Flemming, Mary E. Fissell, James A. Secord, Sian Pooley, James M. Edmonson, Paul Weindling, Jenny Bangham, Martina Schlunder, Jesse Olszynko-Gryn, Ellen Herman, Solveig Julich, Wendy Kline, Patrick Ellis, Christina Brandt, Nick Hopwood, Tatjana Buklijas, Jessica Hughes and Rebecca Flemming.