Formative Years: Children's Health In The United States, 1880-2000 (conversations In Medicine And Society)

Sheds light on the development of the fields of pediatrics and child health during the last century | Much has changed in the lives of children, and in the health care provided to them, over the past century. Formative Years explores how children's lives have become increasingly medicalized, traces the emergence of the fields of pediatrics and child health, and offers fascinating case studies of important and timely issues. With contributions from historians and physicians, this collection illuminates some of the most important transformations in children's health in the United States since the 1880s. Opening with a history of pediatrics as a medical specialty, the book addresses such topics as the formulation of normal growth curves, Better Babies contests at county fairs, the "discovery" of the sexual abuse of children, and the political radicalism of the founder of pediatrics, Dr. Abraham Jacobi. One of the first long-term historical and analytical overviews of pediatrics and child health in the twentieth century, Formative Years will be a welcome addition to several fields, including the history of medicine and technology, the history of childhood, modern U.S. history, women's history, and American studies. It also has ramifications for policymakers concerned with child welfare and development and poses important questions about the direction of children's health in the twenty-first century. Alexandra Minna Stern is Associate Director of the Center for the History of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and American Culture at the University of Michigan. Howard Markel is the George Edward Wantz Professor of the History of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, and Professor of History at the University of Michigan, and Director of the Center for the History of Medicine. Abraham Jacobi And The Origins Of Scientific Pediatrics In America / Russell Viner -- For The Welfare Of Children : The Origins Of The Relationship Between U.s. Public Health Workers And Pediatricians / Howard Markel -- Technology In The Nursery : Incubators, Ventilators, And The Rescue Of Premature Infants / Jeffrey P. Baker -- Weight Charts And Well Child Care : When The Pediatrician Became The Expert In Child Health / Jeffrey P. Brosco -- Better Babies Contests At The Indiana State Fair : Child Health, Scientific Motherhood, And Eugenics In The Midwest, 1920-35 / Alexandra Minna Stern --i Was A Teenage Dwarf : The Social Construction Of Normal Adolescent Growth And Development In The United States / Heather Munro Prescott -- Going To School, Getting Sick : The Social And Medical Construction Of School Diseases In The Late Nineteenth Century / Richard Meckel -- Pathway To Health : Juvenile Diabetes And The Origins Of Managerial Medicine / Chris Feudtner -- The Discovery Of Child Sexual Abuse In America / Hughes Evans -- Framework As Prison : Interpreting Fetal Alcohol Syndrome In The Late Twentieth Century / Janet Golden. Edited By Alexandra Minna Stern, Howard Markel. Updated And Edited Papers From The David Murray Cowie Symposium On The History Of Pediatrics And Child Health In America, Held Sept. 2000 In Ann Arbor, Mich. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 283-287) And Index. "Contents"; "Acknowledgments"; "List of Contributors"; "Foreword"; "Introduction"; "Part 1. Pediatrics as a Specialty"; "Abraham Jacobi and the Origins of Scientific Pediatrics in America"; "For the Welfare of Children: The Origins of the Relationship between U.S. Public Health Workers and Pediatricians"; "Technology in the Nursery: Incubators, Ventilators, and the Rescue of Premature Infants"; "Part 2. Standardizing the Child"; "Weight Charts and Well Child Care: When the Pediatrician Became the Expert in Child Health"; "Better Babies Contests at the Indiana State Fair: Child Health, Scientific Motherhood, and Eugenics in the Midwest, 1920-35" "'I Was a Teenage Dwarf': The Social Construction of 'Normal' Adolescent Growth and Development in the United States"; "Part 3. "'Discovering' New Diseases in Children"; "Going to School, Getting Sick: The Social and Medical Construction of School Diseases in the Late Nineteenth Century"; "Pathway to Health: Juvenile Diabetes and the Origins of Managerial Medicine"; "The Discovery of Child Sexual Abuse in America"; "Framework as Prison: Interpreting Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in the Late Twentieth Century"; "Bibliography and Suggested Reading"; "Index."