Barren in the Promised Land: Childless Americans and the Pursuit of Happiness by Elaine Tyler May
So much of this book made me think of Carla's book. The struggle of women to engage with society's demands for motherhood (whether by choosing to have kids, trying to have them, choosing not to, or being unable to do so) seems like an old, familiar story. What I'm taking with me from this book is the amazing (to me) number of abortions performed in the 19th & early 20th century. (p. 47 - estimated rates for 1800-1830 is one for every 25-30 live births, by mid-century estimated one for every 5 or 6 births, in 1878 in Michigan an estimate said 1/3 of all pregnancies were aborted) That just struck me as very interesting.
Posted by rachel at October 7, 2005 10:33 AM