Robbie Davis-Floyd, PhD, is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA, and a Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology. She is a well-known medical/interpretive/reproductive anthropologist, international speaker, and researcher in transformational models in childbirth, midwifery, obstetrics, and reproduction.

Author's Note about the Cover Images, Dedication, Figure, Tables, Acknowledgments, Preface to the Third Edition, Introduction: Birth as a Rite of Passage, 1. Ritual and Rite, 2. The Stages of Matrescence: The Pregnancy/Childbirth/Postpartum Rite of Passage, 3. The Industrial and Technocratic Models of Birth and Health Care, 4. The Humanistic Model of Birth and Health Care, 5. Birth Messages in the Hospital, 6. How the Messages Are Received: The Spectrum of Response, 7. Scars into Stars: The Reinterpretation of the Childbirth Experience, 8. The Holistic Model of Birth and Health Care, 9. Birth Messages at Home: Homebirth as Holistic Ideology in Action,10. Technocracy in Birth and Life: Some Ritual and Political Implications for the Future, 11. Holism in Birth and Life: Some Ritual and Political Implications for the Future, Conclusion: Birth as an American Rite of Passage, References, Index