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Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Idaho History > Item 80
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Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West
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by John M. Riddle
Sales Rank: 173067
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List Price: $25.50
$22.95
At Amazon
on 9-16-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 352 pages
Published by: Harvard University Press April 15, 1999
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0674270266
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0674270268
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
Weighs: 1.3 pounds
Reader Reviews
As a person who enjoys the study of social history (how people lived) and herbal medicine, this book exceeded my expectations on both counts. Riddle is an historian, so the scholarship in the book is historical scholarship. He moves deftly between conflicting theories of demographics and actual family sizes, at home with his contemporaries and able to argue his somewhat novel opinion on a level playing field. Not surprisingly, historians tend to go along with modern medical thought that there were no effective systems of personal or professional health care prior to our own allopathic tradition in the past few centuries. Herbalists, homeopaths and the like are still fighting for legitimacy against exactly this mindset. What surprised and delighted me was the thoroughness of Riddle's information on the herbs in question. It must be noted that he does NOT provide recipes for readers to use at home. He isn't playing (herbal) doctor. Regardless, a person with some experience in herbalism or access to alternate texts can easily take the list of herbs from this book and find appropriate dosage and other how to information from that other source--including the important caveat that herbs are not always safe and shouldn't be taken without professional advice or lots of research. Riddle's emphasis is on pointing out which plants have been indicated, by whom in the ancient world, and what science has (or has not) done to test for actual efficacy. One interesting side note for readers who allow for the possible effectiveness of today's most revolutionary complementary medicine modalities is Riddle's reporting of the fact that, historically, chants (magic) were often listed together with the herbs (medicine) in any given herbal recipe. Riddle is careful and respectful of the potential for narrow-mindedness when he admits that, to our Western minds, there can be no believing in the usefulness of the magic side of the equation, but he makes no disparaging remarks and he allows for future scientific work to prove said "magic" effective. Of course, to a modern practitioner of Reiki or any other mental/spiritual healing system, it is certainly possible to suppose the intent of the healer and/or patient was a necessary or beneficent part of the ancient cures. I expected to enjoy this book's subject matter, but I was actually delighted by how well Mr. Riddle covered both aspects of the topic, and even more so by the easy readability of his style. Any person who enjoys reading well-written history for pleasure will find this a work worth spending some time with.
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Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West
Available from Amazon
Price: $22.95
Updated on 9-16-2008.
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