Dear Lactnetters,

I am the book review editor for the Journal of Human Lactation. I have described
below 4 books which may be of interest to some of you. If you want to volunteer
to review one of them, here is what will happen:

1. I will send you the book with the Guidelines to Reviewers by priority mail
2. You can keep the book after the review process is completed
3. When you express you interest, send me the following information:
* your name
* your snail mail address where to send the book
* your phone number AT HOME (for emergency call only; usually, e-mail is
sufficient)
* describe what experience/education make you a good candidate for reviewing
this book (now is the time to toot your own horn)
* WHETHER YOU CAN DELIVER YOUR REVIEW BY THE DEADLINE (no, I am not shouting, I
am only trying to attract your attention to a most important point in the
publishing industry: time)
4. Full reviews are no longer than 350 words, briefly noted reviews are no
longer than 150 words.
5. The deadline is indicated with the title of each book.

Here goes:

1. full review; deadline: october 23, 1998
Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives
edited by Robbie Davis-Floyd and Carolyn Sargent
University of California Press, 1997
510 pages; 5 parts, 18 chapters; small type font, no illustration
part 1: the social construction of authoritative knowledge in childbirth
part 2: intracultural variations in authoritative knowledge about birth:
biomedical hegemony and women's choices
part 3: intercultural variations in authoritative knowledge about birth:
hierarchy, community, and the local social ground
part 4: fighting the system: creating and maintaining alternative models of
authoritative knowledge
part 5: viable indigenous systems of authoritative knowledge; continuity in the
face of change.
I have only one copy of this book. Therefore, the reviewer and I will have to
mail it back and forth during the review process.

2. Briefly noted review; deadline: October 5, 1998
The King's Midwife: A History and Mystery of Madame du Coudray
Nina Rattner Gelbart
University of California Press, 1998
347 pages; 6 parts, 63 "chapters"; limited illustrations
prologue: who is mme du coudray?
part 1. From private practice to public service
part 2. saving babies for france
part 3. forging farther afield: friends, family and foes
part 4. delivering the goods
part 5. turning over the keys
part 6. citoyenne midwives and the revolution
epilogue: paris and los angeles, 1994-1996
I have only one copy of this book. Therefore, the reviewer and I will have to
mail it back and forth during the review process.

3. full review; deadline: october 23, 1998
Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, 2nd edition
Jan Riordan and Kathleen Auerbach
Jones and Bartlett, 1998
874 pages; 5 sections, 24 chapters; illustrations, tables
This book will be best reviewed by someone who has access to and has read
extensively the first edition to make comparisons between both editions.

4. full review; deadline: October 19, 1998
WHO Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition
compiled by Mercedes de Onis and Monika Blossner
WHO Nutrition Program, 1997
710 pages; almost entirely tables of data and references on 174 countries
9 chapters
1. introduction
2. the importance of global nutritional surveillance
3. rationale for promoting healthy growth and development
4. the global picture: coverage of the database, overview of national surveys,
regional and global estimates (of underweight, stunting, wasting, and
overweight), nutritional trends
5. methods of standardized date presentation (some statistics in this chapter,
eg. Z-score)
6. how to read the database printouts
7. bibliography
8. list of countries
9. country data and reference (pages 67-710)

For future reference, I am looking for midwives and for healh professionals in
the dental health field interested in reviewing books.

This e-mail address reaches me both at work and at home and I check it everyday.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Lactationally yours,

Nicole Bernshaw
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