Circumcision: A History Of The World's Most Controversial Surgery

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Manufacturer: Basic Books Written By: David Gollaher	Click on the Buy From Amazon.com link to know Amazon.com's best price & availability.
Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 392.1 EAN: 9780465043972 ISBN: 0465043976 Label: Basic Books Manufacturer: Basic Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 272 Publication Date: 2000-03-20 Publisher: Basic Books Studio: Basic Books
Editorial Reviews for Circumcision: A History Of The World's Most Controversial Surgery From the extraordinarily painful initiation rite of the ancient Egyptians, through the Hebrew purification ritual, through its use by nineteenth-century doctors as prevention for ailments including bedwetting, paralysis, and epilepsy, circumcision has had a long and varied history. Perhaps the greatest mystery, however, is its persistence over time through vastly different social contexts.Historian of medicine David Gollaher takes a comprehensive look at the practice in this lively, scholarly history. Circumcision also addresses the growing controversy over the procedure’s continuance, and those opposing routine circumcision will find support here. Gollaher concludes that “if male circumcision were confined to developing nations, it would by now have emerged as an international cause célèbre.”
Consumer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Cultural History of Circumcision Comment: This is not an academic history text or a manual for parents who are trying to decide whether to circumcise their infant sons. But it will probably be of interest to both groups; after all, the list of books covering male circumcision is quite a short one, and Gollaher's book is a fascinating read. David Gollaher provides a very readable cultural history of the practice of circumcision for the general public, explaining the orgins and prevalence of this custom in modern American medical practice. He succeeds in his goal of making the familiar strange and the strange familiar. The strange is made familiar as Gollaher discusses the role that circumcision has played in a wide variety of cultures from aboriginal cultures to Judaism to Islam. And the familiar becomes more and more strange as Gollaher reviews the forces that caused circumcision to become adopted into the medical community in America. The more one reads about what the foreskin is and does, the odder it seems that this is such a routine procedure. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a fairly balanced historical account of circumcision and the forces that have made it such an entrenched practice in the West. Customer Rating: Summary: Not helpful in our decision; lots of fringe info Comment: I did not find this book to very relevant when trying to decide on circumcision for our son. Bottom line is that it is a preference issue and not black and white. I'm sure the book is excellent in it's scholarship, but did not help me sort through the RELEVANT, CURRENT reasons pro and against circumsizing. There is lots of information about primitive circumcision rituals in many other countries and much comparison with female circumcision (?). There is also alot of information about wierd groups that are trying to restore men's foreskin. I guess it is good to know some about the history of circumcusion and why we are doing it today.....but, I really wanted more current, relevant reasons not to circumsize. Customer Rating: Summary: Accurate but Cursory Comment: David Gollaher has delivered an effective synopsis of the history of circumcision, the first of which has been published since the late nineteenth century. Much has happened in the last 100 years. It is unclear what motivated Gollaher, a historian with his doctorate in history from Harvard University, but his conclusions are dead on: if circumcision were a new medical procedure it would never garner favor or approval. Other than a few minor factual errors, his account is accurate. By giving a factual representation of the actions of circumcision's current adovates, he portrays these individuals in a very negative way. For this reason, those who favor male circumcision will find his book unacceptably accurate. I felt the book barely scratched the surface of circumcision's rich history. Each chapter left me wanting more information. I also expected more historical analysis. Rather than just recounting the historical facts Gollaher, with the benefit of his expensive education, should have provided the reader with an understanding of how the facts fit into a historical context. The facts are interesting, but what do they mean? The book, perhaps to assure a certain number of sales, is aimed at the general public, who will not doubt find the topic and treatment of it interesting. For those interested in circumcision on an academic or activist level, the book does not offer much new information. Still, it is reassuring that a mainstream American publisher had the courage to put an accurate portrayal of circumcision in print. Customer Rating: Summary: Mothers choice. Comment: <> Why? The reason is that western women prefer circumsized males, though they would never admit that this was the reason. Rather they always cite questionable and dated research indicating medical benifits. This is a misandrist act of mutilation done for the vain preference of mothers. Customer Rating: Summary: Too Late for Some But Maybe Not for Many, Snips at Ignorance Comment: You might think that the most common surgery in the United States would also be the least controversial-an operation whose medical necessity and benefits have proved beyond question. And you would be wrong. As this fascinating history of that procedure makes clear, circumcision is rooted not in medical science, but in the deepest recesses of religion and culture. Circumcision is performed on more than one million infant and prepubescent boys around the world every year. In America, even though a growing number of physicians dispute its benefits, circumcision remains the most frequently performed elective surgical procedure. In 1995, 64.1% of US male newborns were circumcised-yet there is no proven medical benefit to this practice on normal infants. This book, by medical historian David L. Gollahar presents a fascinating history of this controversial practice and why it has persisted over time through vastly different social contexts. As this book shows, the removal of genital foreskin has a long and varied history: from the extraordinarily painful initiation rite of the ancient Egyptians, through the Hebrew purification ritual, through its use by nineteen-century doctors as prevention for ailments including bedwetting, paralysis, syphilis, and epilepsy, to the present persistence of female circumcision in African cultures. Gollaher also addresses the current controversy over the procedure's continuance, and those opposing routine circumcision will find support here. Gollaher concludes that "if male circumcision were confined to developing nations," similar to the status of female circumcision, "it would by now have emerged as an international cause célèbre." David L. Gollaher (1949- ) is President and CEO of the California Healthcare Institute, a statewide public policy research and advocacy institute. He holds a PhD in History from Harvard and has served on the facilities of San Diego State University's Graduate School of Public Health and the University of California, San Diego.
Similar Items Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America A Surgical Temptation: The Demonization of the Foreskin and the Rise of Circumcision in Britain Circumcision Exposed: Rethinking a Medical and Cultural Tradition Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Circumcision: Untold Facts on America's Most Widely Performed-and Most Unnecessary-Surgery

Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery ...
Circumcision: A History of the Worlds Most Controversial Surgery from British Medical Journal in Health provided free by Find Articles.

David Gollaher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Craven Award. [1] His 2000 study Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery was the first full scholarly history of the subject. [2]

Circumcision: Book Reviews
A Jewish Perspective by Ronald Goldman Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery by David L Gollaher, Ph.D. New York: Basic Books, 2000 (ISBN 0 465 04397 6).

The Weekly Standard
Circumcision A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery by David L. Gollaher Basic, 260 pp., $ 26. Lately I've been noticing other men's private parts.

Circumcision advocacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery. New York: Basic Books, 2000. 253 pages. (ISBN 0-465-04397-6) John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., Plain Facts for ...

CircInfo.org
A short history of the world's most controversial surgery. David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A history of the world's most controversial surgery, New York, Basic Books ...

Pleasures of the Foreskin
... same suffering, to an even greater degree, is felt by the zaddik during intercourse. Quoted in David Gollaher, Circumcision: A history of the world's most controversial surgery ...

CircInfo.org
David Gollaher, Circumcision: A history of the world's most controversial surgery, (New York, Basic Books, 2000) Review by Dr Robert Darby

Circumcision Positions of Advocates and Critics
11) Gollaher, D. Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery. New York: Basic Books, 2000. (12) Pisacane, A., Graziano, L., and Zona, G.

Cultural Bias in American Medical Literature
7. Gollaher D. Circumcision: A history of the World's Most Controversial Surgery. Basic Books, New York, 2000. 8. Kelalis D, King L, Belman A. Clinical Pediatric Urology.