Oral contraception (found 108 titles)

America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation

Author: Elaine Tyler May
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: 2010-04-27
ISBN: 0465011527
Pages: 224
Rating:
Price: $25.95

Customes reviews 1

Outstanding book (2010-05-18)

Historian May traces the development of the contraceptive pill and concludes: The feminist movement liberated women and used the pill as an important tool to gain control over their lives; there is no evidence that the pill caused a boom in premarital sex; and the pill has had little impact on world fertility rates or overpopulation.
May shows that the pill simply enlarged the repertory of methods available to women to reduce the power gap between men and women. "The pill has been at the center of the major transformations in women's lives over the past half-century." And she shows "how much has changed and how much has remained the same."
May traces the legal battles over contraception and also focuses on the Vatican "old boys club" 1968 rejection of its own theological commissioners' 73 to 10 recommendation that it relax its opposition to contraception, a rejection ignored by the overwhelming majority of Catholics. This book easily rates five stars.
--- Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty

The Pill: Are You Sure it's for You?

Authors: Jane Bennett, Alexandra Pope
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication date: 2009-10-01
ISBN: 1741750792
Pages: 324
Price: $16.95

On the Pill: A Social History of Oral Contraceptives, 1950-1970

Authors: Elizabeth Siegel Watkins
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 2001-07-11
ISBN: 0801868211
Pages: 208
Rating:
Price: $27.00

"In 1968, a popular writer ranked the pill's importance with the discovery of fire and the developments of tool-making, hunting, agriculture, urbanism, scientific medicine, and nuclear energy. Twenty-five years later, the leading British weekly, the Economist, listed the pill as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. The image of the oral contraceptive as revolutionary persists in popular culture, yet the nature of the changes it supposedly brought about has not been fully investigated. After more than thirty-five years on the market, the role of the pill is due for a thorough examination."—from the Introduction

In this fresh look at the pill's cultural and medical history, Elizabeth Siegel Watkins re-examines the scientific and ideological forces that led to its development, the part women played in debates over its application, and the role of the media, medical profession, and pharmaceutical industry in deciding issues of its safety and meaning. Her study helps us not only to understand the contraceptive revolution as such but also to appreciate the misinterpretations that surround it.

Customes reviews 2

Great study of the evolution in medicine (2006-12-16)

Watkins does a decent job of explaining how the idea of "the pill" came into being. It covers the initial social controversies and medical developments of birth control. The coalitions between Planned Parenthood and the original race for private grant money show an interesting alliance. Watkins really does an excellent job of looking at all the groups who had a stake in this project including the Catholic Church, FDA and medical professionals. It is not simply a feminist history but a multifaceted study of how the Pill became one of the most consumed drugs in the country.

One of the disappointing factors and the main reason I would only rate it at 4 stars is that if is very narrowly focused in the brand of pill that it follows. It really does not go into the other ones that were coming out as competition in the 1970's even as an afterthought and I feel that is important to address. The book is very well written and is a great addition to the history of science and pharmaceuticals. I really wish we had more like it.

A superbly presented medical and social history. (2002-03-22)

Elizabeth Watkins' On The Pill: A Social History Of Oral Contraceptives, 1950-1970 is an informative social history of oral contraceptives covers the period from 1950-70, when the pill was at its strongest development and played a major role in changing women's lives. Chapters survey the contraceptive revolution and common misconceptions surrounding it in a set of coverages on both medical and social realities.

Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance

Authors: John M. Riddle
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication date: 1994-01-01
ISBN: 0674168763
Pages: 256
Rating:
Price: $24.50

John Riddle uncovers the obscure history of contraception and abortifacients from ancient Egypt to the seventeenth century with forays into Victorian England--a topic that until now has evaded the pens of able historians.

Riddle's thesis is, quite simply, that the ancient world did indeed possess effective (and safe) contraceptives and abortifacients. The author maintains that this rich body of knowledge about fertility control--widely held in the ancient world--was gradually lost over the course of the Middle Ages, becoming nearly extinct by the early modern period. The reasons for this he suggests, stemmed from changes in the organization of medicine. As university medical training became increasingly important, physicians' ties with folk traditions were broken. The study of birth control methods was just not part of the curriculum.

In an especially telling passage, Riddle reveals how Renaissance humanists were ill equipped to provide accurate translations of ancient texts concerning abortifacients due to their limited experience with women's ailments. Much of the knowledge about contraception belonged to an oral culture--a distinctively female-centered culture. From ancient times until the seventeenth century, women held a monopoly on birthing and the treatment of related matters; information passed from midwife to mother, from mother to daughter. Riddle reflects on the difficulty of finding traces of oral culture and the fact that the little existing evidence is drawn from male writers who knew that culture only from a distance. Nevertheless, through extraordinary scholarly sleuthing, the author pieces together the clues and evaluates the scientific merit of these ancient remedies in language that is easily understood by the general reader. His findings will be useful to anyone interested in learning whether it was possible for premodern people to regulate their reproduction without resorting to the extremities of dangerous surgical abortions, the killing of infants, or the denial of biological urges.

Customes reviews 5

Contraception (2009-04-04)

This book is very clinical and dry, but does provide an accurate depiction of women throughout the ages and their efforts to control nature.

Not the best abortion information (2003-01-29)

I would not read this if you are looking for abortion information. It is a history book, and it may poison you to use these recipes.

Excellent overview (1999-11-21)

This is a fine reference book for botanists, pharmacists, academics, writers, and, I suppose, those who want to make the point that abortion and contraception have been around a long, long time. It is clearly written, if a little disorganized, and recipes are given, though the reader is well advised NOT TO TRY THIS AT HOME.

Excellent! The only comprehensive book on this topic. (1999-07-02)

John Riddle provides a comprehensive and compelling examination of contraception and abortion through history. An excellent reference, and the only source that shows the historical underpinnings of the contraceptive and abortive agents we use today.

Fern Reiss (fernreiss@aol.com), author of "The Infertility Diet: Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage"

Fascinating and tantalizing (1999-06-21)

Looking for information about birth control options is frustrating. This book tantalizes the reader with the possibilities but unfortunately, as the author points out, it is impossible to find real methods without trial and error, which is not an acceptable risk for most of us! It is fascinating to learn that birth control was possible even before vulcanized rubber and the pill, and there are possibilities out there that haven't been touched by the medical community. This book and its companion (Eve's Herbs) are well worth reading and I recommend them to anyone interested in not only family planning of the ancients' but also the history of the western world's attitude toward fertility, especially contraception and abortion. Physicians especially could learn a lot from this book.

The Pill: A Biography of the Drug That Changed the World

Authors: Bernard Asbell
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: 1995-05-23
ISBN: 0679411003
Rating:
Price: $25.00

This is a complex and riveting tale involving eccentric scientists, the power of the Catholic church and a group of women and activists who would not take "no" for an answer. Rather than assign a "father" of the pill, Asbell credits two women as its mothers. Created in an era when women struggled to control family size by such horrific methods as Lysol douches, the pill changed women's lives forever in ways far more reaching than sexual freedom.

Customes reviews 4

The Hobo Philosopher (2007-09-05)

Pliny (23-79 AD.) "If a man makes water upon a dog's urine he will become disinclined to copulation." (Yeah, but what about the Dog?) He also suggests that; "If a woman's loins are rubbed with blood taken from the ticks upon the back of a black wild bull, she will be inspired with an aversion to sexual intercourse. (Yes, and so too, the tick gatherer, and tick blood spreader - I would imagine.)
This book The Pill by Bernard Asbell besides being full of useful and energizing information is more than interesting. It is a social as well as a religious experience. One thing is for certain - trying not to have babies has been going on for centuries; thank God.

Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
"A Summer with Charlie"
"A Little Something: Poetry and Prose"
"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"
"The Eastpointer" Selections from award winning column.

The Pill- an extremely interesting and entertaining read (2006-07-18)

I almost couldn't put this book down and read it in a few days. Asbell does a really good job of making the story of the Pill at once comprehensive and entertaining. He develops all the various characters involved in the story: priests, scientists, activists, doctors, funders of research and ordinary citizens in a way that makes gives you a sense of familiarity with their personalities and psychologies. He shows how risk taking, serendipity, and passion led some to succeed and left others virtually anonymous. He gives fair treatment to many of scientific disputes that went on during the invention of the pill and introduces us to the future of contraception. The way he describes science is very accessible and also honest; he does not idolize scientists or science and shows the pitfalls involved in research.
I don't think I fully appreciated how revolutionary the Pill was before I read this book. It has made me much more grateful and informed about the options I can now make. He presents the story with the gravity it deserves.

The review of The Pill of The Book (2003-05-08)

This is a pretty good book and doesn't deserve to be out of print. The author's writing technique isn't scintillating but the book is very readable nonetheless. I was a little disappointed by the lack of biochemical details of how the pill works but other readers may see this as a blessing. The book does a superb job of making the people involved come alive. The descrption of a pre-birth control pill world which is unimagable to most people is simiarly excellent.

capitvating read (1998-02-23)

A wonderful account of the scientific, medical, political and social contexts surrounding the research and development of the oral contraceptive pill...something I realize that we take for granted and revolutionized our view of ourselves and our way of looking at the future.

This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill (Popular Science)

Authors: Carl Djerassi
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date: 2004-01-29
ISBN: 0198606958
Pages: 320
Price: $31.50

Most scientists are lucky if they can base a career on one big discovery. Carl Djerassi, who first synthesized the birth control pill, has managed to squeeze two careers--so far--out of that feat. His memoir, This Man's Pill, published on the pill's 50th birthday, is a warm and funny reflection on his work as research chemist and man of letters; with several novels and plays under his belt, Djerassi is an insightful writer far past the journeyman stage. Exploring the pill's reception and the various battles it's faced internationally, he offers his own thoughts on the subjects of medical ethics, sexuality, and politics while sharing his complex life story. Reminiscent of Richard Feynman's playfully free spirit, Djerassi's voice will inspire readers interested in the confluence of science and art. --Rob Lightner

Managing Contraceptive Pill Patients

Authors: Richard P. Dickey
Publisher: Emis Inc
Publication date: 1994-01
ISBN: 0929240758
Rating:
Price: $14.95

Louisiana State Univ., New Orleans. Contains most of the known oral contraceptive (OC) side effects and their causes with a recommended plan of management. Tables list categorical activities of OCs. Intended to help clinicians choose among OC types. Trim size: 7.5 x 4.25 inches. Softcover.

Customes reviews 9

Helpful hormonal contraceptive managment reference (2009-12-19)

At some point I suppose the title of this handy little handbook will have to change because it no longer provides information about oral contraceptives only. Still the handy center index and helpful content. I've relied on this reference since it was firt available and especially appreciate the tables describing the biological activity of oral contraceptives. Makes it easier to switch pills when patients develop side effects to the ones they're using. And the information about non-oral products like injected and inserted contraceptives is a good addition.

Excellent resource (2009-04-10)

I've used this book before in my 8 years of practice as a Nurse Practioner. Invaluable.

Must have reference for practice (2008-01-04)

I have used this book since 1992, both as a student and as a provider. My past editions have been well thumbed through and open imediately to the charts I used most. It is invaluable in the decision making process of changing pills or starting OCPs. The ability to safely manage side effects and fine tune women's health is found in this book. I highly recommend this to the student and experienced practitioner. Well worth the money, many times over. Not sure I would want it in a PDA format.

Essential tool. (2006-12-11)

I daily use this handbook in my practice and have bought every edition since the 7th. Every question is answered. Allows sense to be made of oral contraceptive choice and adjustment without relying on big pharma's propaganda.

Managing Contraceptive Patient (2005-09-08)

Consistent in it's format, easy to use,concise and up to date. Recommended to all medical personnel managing patients on oral contraceptives. I have purchased the last three editions over the last 7 years and have not been disappointed.

The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse/the Remarkable Autobiography of the Award-Winning Scientist Who Synthesized the Birth Control Pill

Authors: Carl Djerassi
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: 1998
ISBN: 0465057586
Pages: 352
Rating:
Price: $16.95

Describing the lucrative world of drug development, the controversy on the politics of contraception, and poignant stories of his personal and professional aspirations, the award-winning scientist who synthesized the birth control pill offers his fascinating autobiography. Photos.

Customes reviews 3

Satisfying book (2009-11-28)

The author seems to take himself not too seriously and also by the portrait that he paints he seems not to be the ideal family man. It is interesting to read the description of his career path and I recommend the book to scientists and non-scientists alike.

No regrets. (2002-10-22)

Revealing autobiography of the scientist who transformed the world by synthesizing the Pill.
"I have no regrets that the Pill has contributed to the sexual revolution of our time and perhaps expedited it, because most of those changes in sexual mores would have happened anyway."

Djerassi give us an incisive picture of his personal life. But the biggest part of this book tells the intriguing story of the synthesizing of the Pill and the problems to prove that there were only minor side-effects: a battle with the FDA. A good lesson for every scientist.
He is perhaps too harsh for the environmental fundamentalist. But he remarks among other things that "... in general, life in the modern industrial world has not contributed to increased death from cancer", and that "99.9 percent of all pesticides consumed by humans are derived not from synthetics but rather from the plants themselves".
Also interesting is the story of the Pugwash Conference, whose altruistic goal was corrupted by a struggle between the cold war warriors.
His biggest confession "At heart, I'm still a gambler."
Excellent work, not only for scientists.

Prevailing over life's circumstances (2000-06-28)

To read from the works of Carl Djerassi is to sample the mind of a creative genius the breadth of whose life activities spans scientific research to writing fiction and plays. His autobiography is best read in the context of some of his other works. This review of his autobiography will reference two of his works of fiction, The Bourbaki Gambit, and NO.

These books will never be on the best seller lists. Yet it precisely because of this that they should be read by scientists and engineers as food for thought. These books grew on me. By the time that I had finished them, I had experienced compelling plot lines. More importantly I had experienced the emotions of scientists at the beginnings and ends of their careers. Is Djerassi, at an age where many are spending their days playing golf or reliving their pasts, using science in fiction as metaphor for his own career? Is not the promise of the medical advances of the last several decades the time and the vitality to explore new horizons and to boldly embark on a new career, rather than to ride quietly into the sunset? If nothing else, these works celebrate creative solutions to how one manages one's career throughout one's life.

The Bourbaki Gambit has Max Weiss, professor of chemistry at Princeton University, being forced into a retirement that he neither wants nor is prepared for. Stunned at a sudden loss of all that has been his life, Max considers others in his predicament and hatches a plan to show that retirement age does not mean the end of contributions. The plan? Nothing less than to jointly make a fabulous scientific discovery, and publish it as a sole, fictitious author. Does the plan work? Read the book.

If this was all you read, you might be tempted to say that this is the swan song of an old professor, but NO takes us to the other end of the spectrum. The device for this book is the molecule nitric oxide, which is active in many physiological processes. Specifically this book is a fictionalized account of the development and commercialization of a predecessor to Viagra. urialism. In the end, both husband and wife fulfill their careers by going full circle.

To better understand these works as metaphors for a scientific career, you must read Dieresis's autobiography. The rather cumbersome title, The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse, prepares the reader for what comes -- a highly readable journey through a series of defining events in his life. Question: is it better to read the fiction first, or the autobiography? Clearly this is a man the power of whose ideas transcends science or literature. Approach the autobiography as an insight into his mind. From persecution in 1930's Vienna as a teenager; to dealing with the provincial culture of the Mid West at the outset of World War II; to performing world class chemical synthesis from an isolated setting in Mexico in the early 1950's (activities which led to the synthesis of compounds that ultimately became the oral contraceptive); Carl Djerassi defined his surroundings. Lesser individuals may have been victims of their circumstances, but Carl Djerassi took his surroundings and prevailed. This is the message of this autobiography.

Now back to the question -- which to read first. Read the fiction first. Technologists can enjoy these as stories that speak to them. An engineer nearing retirement will immediately bond with Max Weiss, who struggles with the complexities of retirement. A young technologist, one contemplating entrepreneurship, or a dual career couple will find kinship with the protagonists in NO as they struggle with pursuing their visions. Then read the autobiography. What makes the stories so good is that he is writing from experience. The young technologists in NO, working in Israel, could be the young Djerassi working in Mexico City. Max Weiss could be Djerassi at a Gordon Conference poking fun at priority at any cost mentality of some scientists. And the ever cool Diana Doyle-Ditmus represents the ideal for an intellectually and physically active senior lifestyle.

These books, read either as a set or individually, can be an inspiration to technologists at any point in their career.

Creating Choice: A Community Responds to the Need for Abortion and Birth Control, 1961-1973 (Palgrave Studies in Oral History)

Authors: David P. Cline
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date: 2006-02-19
ISBN: 1403968144
Pages: 304
Rating:
Price: $30.00

Customes reviews 2

Informative overview of abortion/birth control (2010-04-07)

I read the first three parts of this book as they were what addressed the information I was looking for.

This book starts out with accounts of women who got abortions before Roe v. Wade. The stories are heartbreaking and disturbing. There's no sugarcoating, and you really get to see the dangers of back-alley type abortions. Part two consists of doctor's accounts during this time period. I found this perspective unique and something I had never really considered. The accounts are interesting and really informative from a professionals point of view. Following this is the Clergy/Counselors section, which I found the most repetitive. Although it had good information, at times it felt like the interviews overlapped each other a little too heavily.

The last two sections, which I did not read are on Feminist Lay Abortion Counselors and Uniting Medical care, Activism, and Feminism.

Must read! Broadens your perspective on Roe v Wade. (2006-07-31)

"David Cline has assembled an amazingly rich repository of testimonies. This work is a major contribution to the project of preserving and disseminating the histories of activism, feminism, and reproductive politics in the United States."

--Rickie Solinger, author of Pregnancy and Power: A Short History of Reproductive Politics in America (New York University Press, 2005) and other books

"In this rich collection of interviews, David Cline illuminates the courage, pain and determination of those who dared to break laws that banned abortions and chose instead to create communities that embraced choice."

--William H. Chafe, Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of History, Duke University

"David Cline has written an extremely moving and fascinating account of one community's response to the reproductive health care needs of women in the era before Roe v Wade. Cline's book is most timely, as the hard won victories of the past-for access to birth control as well as to abortion care-are once again in jeopardy."

--Carole Joffe, author of Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe v Wade (Beacon Press, 1995)

"A powerful document of the history of abortion Creating Choice is wonderfully accessible, an important collection for anybody trying to understand the history of women and sexuality."

--Johanna Schoen, University of Iowa, author of Choice and Coercion: Birth Control, Sterilization, and Abortion in Public Health and Welfare (University of North Carolina Press, 2005)

"An urgent and moving account of the multiple sources of change that brought about the spectacular-and now imperiled-expansion of women's reproductive rights. Through an exemplary use of oral history interviews, David Cline has uncovered the "amazing web" of ministers, doctors, and feminists who provided support for women seeking access to birth control and abortion in the years before Roe v Wade. Until now, such local stories have been repressed and forgotten, distorting history and severing the struggle for women's rights from the larger project of human progress and freedom.

--Jacquelyn Hall, Spruill Professor of History and Director of the Southern Oral History Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Pill and other forms of hormonal contraception (The Facts)

Authors: John Guillebaud, Anne MacGregor
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date: 2009-08-01
ISBN: 0199565767
Pages: 200
Price: $19.95

Used by over 200 million women since the 1960s, the Pill is one of the most commonly prescribed medicines--and has repeatedly been established as one of the least harmful ever formulated. However, there are some risks, and a number of "Pill Scares" have been reported in the media--often causing women to give up the Pill without finding a satisfactory alternative.

More choices are now available than ever to users of hormonal contraception, and it can be difficult for doctors or family planning workers to find the time for detailed discussion with existing or new users.

Women of all ages, whether they are existing users of or new to hormonal contraception, will find realistic, practical, and trustworthy guidance in this book to help them to make their own informed decisions. It will also be indispensable to health professionals as a concise, balanced overview. Thise user-friendly book contains extensive and unbiases advice and information on the Pill, along with other hormonal alternatives such as implants, injections, and patches.

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