Elinor Cleghorn – författare

The first comprehensive history of mothers and mothering from antiquity to today, by the acclaimed author of UNWELL WOMEN'Cleghorn's aim is to reclaim mothering as a radical, intentional act - not purely a biological function, devoid of thought, creativity, or labour . . . Engrossing' OBSERVER'An essential history' LEAH HAZARD'This is the book we need right now . . . powerful and astonishing' MARIANNE LEVY'Thoughtful, smart, and, sadly, really bloody urgent' CLAIRE LYNCHMothers make history. For centuries, motherhood has sparked social and political change. Yet the acts of growing, birthing and nurturing children - and the power they hold - have been pushed to the margins, overlooked in our narratives of the past.In A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn reveals the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, and community leaders who have shaped this extraordinary history. They include Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval nun and mystic with pioneering views about the maternal body; Mary Wollstonecraft, who laid the intellectual groundwork to release motherhood from male control; and Sojourner Truth, who drew attention to the abhorrent treatment of mothers under chattel slavery.Beginning in the ancient world, we learn how in each era, the patriarchy constructed its own idealised notion of motherhood - from the misogynistic dogma of the early church and the stigmatisation of single mothers in 17th century England all the way through to the post-war myth of the perfectly contented housewife. But we also learn how mothers of all classes and circumstances fought back, and lobbied to be valued, respected and supported - not as reproductive vessels, but as people.A Woman's Work is a radical and inspiring new history of mothering, and a timely reminder that the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.

The first comprehensive history of mothers and mothering from antiquity to today, by the acclaimed author of UNWELL WOMEN'Cleghorn's aim is to reclaim mothering as a radical, intentional act - not purely a biological function, devoid of thought, creativity, or labour . . . Engrossing' OBSERVER'An essential history' LEAH HAZARD'This is the book we need right now . . . powerful and astonishing' MARIANNE LEVY'Thoughtful, smart, and, sadly, really bloody urgent' CLAIRE LYNCHMothers make history. For centuries, motherhood has sparked social and political change. Yet the acts of growing, birthing and nurturing children - and the power they hold - have been pushed to the margins, overlooked in our narratives of the past.In A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn reveals the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, and community leaders who have shaped this extraordinary history. They include Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval nun and mystic with pioneering views about the maternal body; Mary Wollstonecraft, who laid the intellectual groundwork to release motherhood from male control; and Sojourner Truth, who drew attention to the abhorrent treatment of mothers under chattel slavery.Beginning in the ancient world, we learn how in each era, the patriarchy constructed its own idealised notion of motherhood - from the misogynistic dogma of the early church and the stigmatisation of single mothers in 17th century England all the way through to the post-war myth of the perfectly contented housewife. But we also learn how mothers of all classes and circumstances fought back, and lobbied to be valued, respected and supported - not as reproductive vessels, but as people.A Woman's Work is a radical and inspiring new history of mothering, and a timely reminder that the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.

THE NEW BOOK FROM ELINOR CLEGHORN: A WOMAN'S WORK IS OUT NOW 'An essential history' - Leah Hazard'Powerful' NEW YORK TIMES'A passionate and indignant history' THE TIMES'Unputdownable' TELEGRAPHMedicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. Over centuries, women's bodies have been demonised and demeaned until we feared them, felt ashamed of them, were humiliated by them. But as doctors, researchers, campaigners and most of all as patients, women have continuously challenged medical orthodoxy. Medicine's history has always been, and is still being, rewritten by women's resistance, strength and incredible courage. In this ground-breaking history Elinor Cleghorn unpacks the roots of the perpetual misunderstanding, mystification and misdiagnosis of women's bodies, illness and pain. From the 'wandering womb' of ancient Greece to today's shifting understanding of hormones, menstruation and menopause, Unwell Women is the revolutionary story of women who have suffered, challenged and rewritten medical misogyny. Drawing on Elinor's own experience as an unwell woman, this is a powerful and timely expose of the medical world and woman's place within it.