THE LEGACY OF DOCTOR LAMAZE

Casual perusal of family photos led Gutmann, the publicity director for French publisher Fayard, to diaries, aging family friends and, finally, the hospital where her grandfather suffered a fatal heart attack as she pieced together this first biography of Dr. Fernand Lamaze (1891–1957). A holy figure to generations of childbirth progressives, Lamaze was far from saintly in his personal life. Fond of drink and prostitutes, he even installed one of his many mistresses in the family home. Yet the same man risked his career to bring "painless childbirth" from Soviet Russia to France and then to the world. Gutmann makes sense of this apparent paradox by seeing life through her grandfather's eyes, mindful of his class and times. His Belle Epoque philandering comes to seem minor compared to his core mission to assist women in childbirth. American activists, who tend to view the overthrow of midwives by doctors as a setback to women's control over their bodies, may find Lamaze's story instructive. In France, midwives and the Catholic Church preached that the pain of childbirth and the risk of death were a "blood tax" owed by women for Eve's transgression. Lamaze's method, which offered women control over their own labor, made him an anti-establishment doctor. Gutmann fills in the historical gaps with conjectural passages that may annoy purists, as may the nonlinear narrative and overall partisan tone, but those interested in the history of medicine and women's issues will find this account enjoyable and valuable. 8-page photo inset, not seen by PW. (Aug.)