In Mass Hysteria, Rebecca Kukla examines the present-day medical and cultural practices surrounding pregnancy, new motherhood, and infant feeding. In the late-eighteenth century, the configuration of the maternal body underwent a radical transformation and the two maternal bodies that emerged out of this transformation still govern our imagination and rituals surrounding pregnancy and lactation. Exploring the history and the current life of these two maternal bodies within medical institutions, popular culture, and politics, Kukla offers a critical assessment of the lived repercussions of these ideological figures and practices for contemporary women's and infants' health and well-being.

"Kukla advances feminist thinking about maternity and breastfeeding…Highly recommended." - CHOICE

"A learned, engaging, and lively account." - Hastings Center Report

"Packed with material drawn from the history of medicine as well as popular and professional sources....A rich resource." - Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy

"[Kukla's] analysis is occasionally brilliant." - Feminist Collections: A Quarterly Of Women's Studies Resources, Summer / Fall 2008