A Passion for Birth: My Life: Anthropology, Family and Feminism

A perfect eulogy to a life well lived.

'I knew that Sheila has been very involved in developing birth practices, but until I read this autobiography I had no idea just how much she was involved in. Now I have no idea how she fitted it all into one life!'

`Over the last 50 years, whenever there was a women's birthing issue, Sheila was involved.'

`I found this book totally absorbing. Sheila has the most fascinating life and wrote about it in the same energetic fashion with which she must have lived it.'

`This is an exuberant, inspiring book. Read it if you want to remember why you are involved in birth work. Read it if you a midwife and want to feel empowered to listen to women. Read it if you are interested in birth around the world. Read it if you want to be inspired to pursue activism in as area about which you feel passionately. Or read it if you just want to learn about a fascinating life lived through a period of great social change.'

I feel grateful that her voice and encouragement will live on in this vibrant book.

Sheila Kitzinger M.B.E, M.Litt was a social anthropologist of birth and author of 25 books published internationally, most on the emotional journey through this major life experience. At Oxford in the 50s she discovered that the social anthropology of that time was almost entirely about men. She decided she would do research to discover what was important in women's lives, and focused on pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.

Her five children were all born at home. She lectured widely in different countries and has learned from mothers and midwives in the USA and Canada, the Caribbean, Eastern and Western Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, South Africa and Japan, and from women in prison and those who have had a traumatic birth experience.

She died April 11, 2015.

Her website is www.sheilakitzinger.com