Milk cover art

Milk

An Intimate History of Breastfeeding

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Milk

By: Joanna Wolfarth
Narrated by: Hollie Hales, Joanna Wolfarth
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About this listen

 - 'Illuminating . . . an important book' Sunday Times
- 'A fascinating journey through the social, cultural and historical meanings of breastfeeding. A sublime book' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women
- 'Erudite, intimate and compelling . . . a long-overdue history' Leah Hazard, author of Hard Pushed
- 'A story for us all' BBC History Magazine

Milk is elemental. It is the first thing we look for at birth and, for most, it is the first substance to touch our tongues after we enter the world. It is the promise of nourishment, of care, of life.

Using the arc of her own experience, cultural historian Joanna Wolfarth takes us on an intimate journey of discovery beyond mother and baby, asking how the world views caregivers, their bodies, their labour and their communal bonds. By bringing together art, social histories, philosophy, folk wisdom and contemporary interviews with women from across the world, Milk reveals how infant feeding has been represented and repressed, celebrated and censured. In doing so, it charts previously unexplored territory - and offers comfort and solace to anyone who has fed or will feed a child. Gender Studies Social Sciences Women Inspiring

Critic reviews

Compassionate, compelling and beautifully told, Milk is a fascinating journey through the social, cultural and historical meanings of breastfeeding. Through her intricate, personal and tender research, Wolfarth deftly explores the human complexities of caring, nurturing and nourishing. A sublime book (ELINOR CLEGHORN, author of UNWELL WOMEN)
A feminist blend of memoir and history . . . Wolfarth takes us on an illuminating tour of shifting attitudes and practices . . . as a cultural historian she is excellent at detailing how motherhood changes her perspective of art . . . this is an important book: however personal each mother's "journey" may seem, there are always bigger forces at play (Francesca Angelini)
Erudite, intimate and compelling, Milk is a long-overdue history of humanity's first food (LEAH HAZARD, author of HARD PUSHED)
The beauty of Wolfarth's storytelling is difficult to convey . . . [Milk] is a story for us all
Milk is a fascinating book, a rigorous and intimate study of something at once essential to life, and yet too often overlooked. Wolfarth uses breastfeeding as a lens through which to examine and critique the structures of motherhood, but it's also a text suffused with love and care, and I felt equal parts enlightened and comforted after reading it (MIRANDA WARD, author of ADRIFT)
Sensitively drawn and full of insight, this is an intelligent and inventive new approach to a subject that should matter to all humans. Stunning (JENNIE AGG, author of LIFE, ALMOST)
I adored Milk. It is such an open-hearted, tender, gorgeous book; the way Wolfarth writes of mothers and milk so carefully crafted and so caring in equal measure. Art and bodies are interwoven so beautifully it becomes a dance; one that pays tribute to our ancestors and our experience, both individual and collective. We are asked in myriad ways what exactly it means to give sustenance, to nurture, to give ourselves over to a small stranger we are changed by forever; no matter how we fed them. An important, non-judgmental and truly healing book; I am most grateful for it indeed (Kerri ní Dochartaigh, author of THIN PLACES)
All stars
Most relevant
An intimate history of breastfeeding through time and cultures around the world. I learnt a lot, and related a lot too! I found myself looking up images of artwork that was referenced throughout. And the ending made me emotional thinking of how milk is all the beginning of life.

A thorough investigation of breastfeeding through art and culture!

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best thing I've read as a new mum, very powerful. trying to get my husband to read it now

highly recommended

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Mixing memoir from the febrile, fragile days of early motherhood and struggling to breastfeed with cultural commentary and study of infant feeding as depicted in art, this is a brilliantly written and fascinating book. It elegantly sidesteps boring and reductive ‘debates’ about baby feeding and instead examines what we don’t know about this most fundamental of acts and where our attitudes towards it come from. Just fascinating.

Insight and beautifully written

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Wolfarth takes us on an expansive journey through time and art and across cultures as she explores the under told history of breastfeeding and bottle feeding along side her own experience of breastfeeding and bottle feeding her son. It is both a highly informative and at times highly emotive book that I found totally fascinating from start to finish. I want to buy the physical book now so I can refer back to it! This audio book version is easy listening with great narration. Highly recommend.

Brilliant

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