Nick Hopwood is Professor of History of Science and Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He is author of Haeckel's Embryos: Images, Evolution, and Fraud (2015), which won the 2016 Suzanne J. Levinson Prize of the History of Science Society. Rebecca Flemming is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Cambridge. She has published widely on medicine and gender in antiquity, including Medicine and the Making of Roman Women: Gender, Nature, and Authority from Celsus to Galen (2000). Lauren Kassell is Reader in History of Science and Medicine at the University of Cambridge and directs the Casebooks Project. Her publications include Medicine and Magic in Elizabethan London: Simon Forman, Astrologer, Alchemist, and Physician (2005).

'A fascinating work of breath taking ambition. It is certain to become a key point of reference for scholars working in a wide range of disciplines.' Sally Sheldon, FAcSS, University of Kent

• 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-Hélène 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 Müller-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 Gaudillière: 36. Technologies of contraception and abortion Jesse Olszynko-Gryn; 37. Hospital birth Salim Al-Gailani; 38. Prenatal diagnosis, surveillance and risk Ilana Löwy; 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, Véronique 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, Siân Pooley, James M. Edmonson, Paul Weindling, Jenny Bangham, Martina Schlünder, Jesse Olszynko-Gryn, Ellen Herman, Solveig Jülich, Wendy Kline, Patrick Ellis, Christina Brandt, Nick Hopwood, Tatjana Buklijas, Jessica Hughes and Rebecca Flemming.