List Books » Model Mothers (Oxford Historical Monographs Series): Jewish Mothers and Maternity Provision in East London, 1870-1939
Authors: Lara V. Marks, Marks
ISBN-13: 9780198204541, ISBN-10: 019820454X
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: July 1994
Edition: (Non-applicable)
University of London
In late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain there was deep concern about the perceived physical and military deterioration of the nation, reflected in the diminishing birth rate, persistently high infant mortality, and the poor health of the working class. Many medical practitioners and politicians believed that Jewish mothers were "model mothers" whose exemplary care of their children offered a solution to these problems. Lara Marks assesses the extent to which the stereotype of Jewish mothers reflected the reality of their experience in East London between 1870 and 1939. Not only did they have to cope with extreme poverty, but as newly arrived immigrants they had to deal with linguistic and cultural barriers and the unfamiliarity of local medical facilities. Model Mothers makes important contributions to our knowledge of maternal and infant care in this period and to our understanding of the interactions between ethnicity and health-care.
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Introduction | 1 | |
1 | Background: Immigration and Settlement | 11 |
2 | The Health of Jewish Infants and Mothers in East London | 43 |
3 | Familial, Neighbourhood, and Communal Resources for Childbirth | 92 |
4 | Local Voluntary Hospitals and Maternity Care | 129 |
5 | Poor Law Institutions and Maternity Care | 179 |
6 | Domiciliary and Dispensary Maternity Provision | 226 |
Bibliography | 275 | |
Index | 311 |