Dr. William’s 1914 Book

*NOTE: AASPIM is for the “American Association for the Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality”. This was a professional organization of obstetricians and other MDs and public health officials that met annually from 1910 to 1923. It was originally organized, financed, and backed by the AMA. The previous post — Part One — provided the necessary […]

Background material about the American influential obstetrician Dr. J. Whitridge Williams, and his role in portraying childbirth in white middle and upper-class women as a quasi-pathology process This story was memorialized in a book published in 1914 entitled “Twilight Sleep: A Simple Account of New Discoveries in Painless Childbirth“. It also was recorded in the […]

Excerpt #2 of the 1914 book: Draft: Twilight Sleep ~ A Simple Account of New Discoveries in Painless Childbirth and influence of Dr. J. W. Williams’ definition of childbirth as a pathological process

by faithgibson August 2, 2023

I’m devoting August 2023 to posting and organizing the mass of material I have on the life and influence of Dr. J. Whitridge Williams on obstetrics in America and his (unfortunately) successful efforts to officially define obstetrics as a surgical specialty, childbearing women was “surgical patients” and childbirth as a surgical procedure “performed” by the […]

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Excerpt #1 of the 1914 book: Twilight Sleep ~ Simple Discoveries in Painless Childbirth and Dr. J. Whitridge Williams’ influence that defined childbirth as a pathological process .

by faithgibson August 1, 2023

I am devoting August 2023 to posting and organizing the mass of material i have on the life and influence of Dr. J. Whitridge Williams. My goal is to collate the material into a single volume.  So if it seems redundant, you are right. But these various version were written at different times and represent […]

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Intro to an 8-part series on Dr. Williams’ 1914 book “Twilight Sleep”: Simple Discoveries in Painless Childbirth”

by faithgibson February 17, 2018

How I became a time-traveler, a storyteller and “idiot savant” on the unnecessary often dangerous medicalization of normal birth by the obstetrical profession in the United States over the course of the 20th century and why this story still matters today to every American Easy Shortcut to share –> https://tinyurl.com/y8pgewkg The information in this 8-part […]

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