A Good Time to Be Born
How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future
by Perri Klass
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Pub Date Oct 13 2020 | Archive Date Sep 30 2020
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Description
The fight against child mortality that transformed parenting, doctoring, and the way we live.
Only one hundred years ago, in even the world’s wealthiest nations, children died in great numbers—of diarrhea, diphtheria, and measles, of scarlet fever and tuberculosis. Throughout history, culture has been shaped by these deaths; diaries and letters recorded them, and writers such as Louisa May Alcott, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Eugene O’Neill wrote about and mourned them. Not even the powerful and the wealthy could escape: of Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s four children, only one survived to adulthood, and the first billionaire in history, John D. Rockefeller, lost his beloved grandson to scarlet fever. For children of the poor, immigrants, enslaved people and their descendants, the chances of dying were far worse.
The steady beating back of infant and child mortality is one of our greatest human achievements. Interweaving her own experiences as a medical student and doctor, Perri Klass pays tribute to groundbreaking women doctors like Rebecca Lee Crumpler, Mary Putnam Jacobi, and Josephine Baker, and to the nurses, public health advocates, and scientists who brought new approaches and scientific ideas about sanitation and vaccination to families. These scientists, healers, reformers, and parents rewrote the human experience so that—for the first time in human memory—early death is now the exception rather than the rule, bringing about a fundamental transformation in society, culture, and family life.
About the Author: Perri Klass is a professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University, codirector of NYU Florence, and national medical director of?Reach Out and Read. She writes the weekly column The Checkup for the New York Times.
Advance Praise
“Not too long ago, parents lived with the near certainty of losing a child or two; Perri Klass captures the drama of science and society’s triumph over that abysmal reality. As we grapple with new and unimaginable scourges, the lessons in this gripping, personal and beautifully researched chronicle could not be more relevant.” - Abraham Verghese, MD, author of Cutting for Stone
“With her broad pediatric knowledge and warm understanding of parental attachments, Perri Klass tells the dramatic story of how medical science transformed childhood in the twentieth century…An important contribution to the history of childhood that can provide comfort and insight to all of us.” - Paula S. Fass, author of The End of American Childhood
“All readers with an interest in the history of health care—and all parents who bite their nails over the relatively rare dangers facing their children now—will be riveted.” - Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
“Klass beautifully demonstrates how the fusion of medical science and public health led to the vaccines, antibiotics, safety measures, and self-help volumes that saved countless young lives while revolutionizing the ways in which we map our children’s future. Elegantly written, filled with memorable characters and events, A Good Time to Be Born is the perfect prescription for the uncertainties of our time.” - David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Polio: A History
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780393609998 |
| PRICE | $28.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Roberta C, Educator
An absolutely fascinating book fiction book about childhood health and diseases. The author is a pediatrician who had been working for decades, and tells us about her historical research and personal experience of what were once common childhood ailments, like measles, scarlet fever and diphtheria. It is amazing to think about how within living memory we have moved from virtually every parent having to live with the expected death of a child, to a world where childhood death is thankfully incredibly rare. It really makes you realise how much we owe to sanitation, knowledge of germs and hygiene and vaccination to have changed our lives so fundamentally. The author did a great and very even handed job of explaining how vaccinations and the care of premature babies became contentious issues, and how both have changed family life. I read this book in one sitting, and although it might seem like a morbid subject, ultimately I felt uplifted by the massive progress we have made across the world in child life expectancy. A really great read.
Reviewer 625640
First I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to review this book.
I am a registered nurse so I had a particular interest in this subject. Living in the days of modern medicine it is often difficult to truly appreciate the early milestones in medical progress, and make it all too easy to take those victories for granted.
The author has certainly chosen a topic that relevant to today’s medical culture. The fight against child mortality is something that healthcare providers all over the world struggle with today. It is a war with battles lost and battles won. I feel this book offers encouragement to all medical personnel, that though there are times we fail, there will be times we succeed. This is a powerful tribute to the hard work of those who have sought to improve the quality and longevity of humanity.
The author begins with an overview of the expectations and experiences of those a century or so; creating a strong start for the following chapters. The chapters and information are well-organized and with the subject matter clearly outlined.
The language used in the book is appropriate for both medical personnel and laymen, as the author takes time to explain anything that may cause confusion. Her thoughts are clear and concise, along with well-researched.
Overall I found this book to very interesting and found myself compelled to continue. I feel I learned a lot that I didn’t know, and received a good refresher on things I had previously studied.
Stephen G, Reviewer
Science writing done right
I loved everything about this book. Dr. Perri Klass’s excellent writing carried me along with her clever wording and some well placed humor. I couldn’t put the book down. Some parts of the book, where Klass discussed the bad old days, are absolutely heart-breaking but conversely, Klass explains how things have improved since then. The other aspect of the book I liked is that Klass puts herself into the story as we learn more about her and her journey. This book is an example of great science writing and is a must-read.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.
Abby S, Reviewer
Perri Klass from her first books has been a heroine of mine.So smart always open sharing her life her practice with us.This is a fascinating read an extremely timely look at the world of vaccines at how far we’ve come come..We learn to be thankful for vaccines as parents who know how they keep our children safe.With the search for a vaccine for COVID this book is a very important very timely,#netgalley#ww.norton
Reviewer 431600
Perri Klass talks about the historical times and about all the ailments like measles and that have once plagued children when they were young. Some parts of the book were heartbreaking and and sad when delving into the past of childhood diseases and high child mortality rate. But it's also really enlightening seeing how far we've come, and realizing how much has changed due to the introduction of sanitation, hygiene, and vaccines. It's amazing the amount of progress that has been made, and as the title states, now is truly a good time to be born. I highly recommend!
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