Fall 2008 - The Johns Hopkins University Press

The Fertility DoctorJohn Rock and the Reproductive RevolutionMargaret Marsh and Wanda RonnerAs Louise Brown—the first baby conceived by in vitro fertilization—celebrates her 30th birthday in 2008, Margaret Marsh and WandaRonner tell the fascinating story of the man who first showed that human invitro fertilization was possible.John Rock spent his career studying human reproduction. The first researcherto fertilize a human egg in vitro in the 1940s, he became the nation’s leadingfigure in the treatment of infertility, his clinic serving rich and poor alike. Inthe 1950s he joined forces with Gregory Pincus to develop oral contraceptivesand in the 1960s enjoyed international celebrity for his promotion of the pilland his campaign to persuade the Catholic Church to accept it.Rock became a more controversial figure by the 1970s, as conservative Christiansargued that his embryo studies were immoral and feminist activists contendedthat he had taken advantage of the clinic patients who had participatedin these as research subjects.• Advance reading copies• National media• National advertisingMarsh and Ronner’s nuanced account sheds light on the man behind the brilliantcareer. They tell the story of a directionless young man, a saloon keeper’sson, who began his working life as a timekeeper on a Guatemalan banana plantationand later became one of the most recognized figures of the twentiethcentury. They portray his medical practice from the perspective of his patients,who ranged from the wives of laborers to Hollywood film stars.The first scholars to have access toRock’s personal papers, Marsh andRonner offer a compelling look at aman whose work defined the reproductiverevolution.“A fascinating biographical study of a keyfigure in twentieth-century America . . . acomplete portrait of John Rock as a son,brother, husband, father, student, doctor,researcher, and public figure.”—Elizabeth Siegal Watkins, author of Onthe Pill: A Social History of OralContraceptives, 1950–1970October 416 pages 6 x 920 halftones978-0-8018-9001-7 0-8018-9001-2$29.95 / £16.00 hcMargaret MARSH is a professor of historyand interim provost at RutgersUniversity, Camden. Wanda Ronneris a clinical associate professor ofobstetrics and gynecology at theUniversity of Pennsylvania School ofMedicine. They are coauthors of The Empty Cradle: Infertility in America fromColonial Times to the Present, also published by Johns Hopkins.Biography / HistoryTHE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS www.press.jhu.edu