Raising baby by the book

In this study of the education of American mothers, Julia Grant shows how the tides of opinion about proper child care have shifted from the early 1800s, when maternal associations discussed biblical and secular theories of child rearing, through the 1950s, when books like Spock's Baby and Child Care were widely consulted, to today's era of television advice-givers.

As mothers have increasingly sought assistance in the complex enterprise of raising children, Grant finds, they have become discriminating consumers of professional advice - choosing to follow it, ignore it, or adapt it to their individual circumstances.