I challenge you to read the whole book, cover to cover, before reacting to what they're saying. When I realized the authors were promoting the Dublin version of "active management of labor," I had the impulse to stop reading or at least to argue against it in my mind as I read. But I read the whole thing and found myself intrigued and challenged by their arguments. Their approach made me realize that the "birth spectrum" that so many in the birth world tend to talk about--ranging from a medicalized "technocratic" approach on one end, to a midwifery or "holistic" approach on the other--is sometimes entirely inadequate. This book, for example, promotes a style of maternity care that really doesn't fit anywhere on the spectrum. Some of the proposed practices might be seen as very medicalized, while others are extremely concerned with the woman's subjective, emotional experience of labor, of helping as many women as possible have spontaneous, vaginal, and non-traumatic births.

Copied from Dr Freeze's website: www.rixarixa.blogspot.com/2009/11/blogging-break-and-books-to-read.html

Dr Rixa Freeze MA, PhD - December 2009

This challenging book is very well-organized and elegantly written, with wit and passion. It is a must-read for all obstetricians, midwives and labor ward nurses. Read it, study it, practice it, promote it!

Dr Anne Damoiseaux MD - October 2009