The Second Oldest Profession: The Wet Nurse, Revered and Reviled [Hardcover]

The wet nursea woman hired to breastfeed a child not her ownis indeed attested far back in history; in fact, archaeologists have discovered the tomb of Tutankhamens wet nurse. In modern Europe and the United States, wet nursing persisted into the early twentieth century, when bottles and formula rendered it obsolete. At one end of the social scale, wealthy families hired wet nurses to spare mothers the necessity of nursing; at the other, foundling babies were fed by wet nurses employed by orphanages. Wet nurses, ubiquitous women in well-to-do Continental households until the beginning of the twentieth century, are the subject of Barbara Zuckers wonderfully informative and sympathetic cross-cultural investigation. This book is as readable as it is handsome. Barbara Zuckers unique book is a fresh and enthralling account of her search for the history of wet nurses across the ages and across cultures. It is not about art, but it is written by a feminist artist and amplified by visuals including her own interspersed drawings. Scholarly, honest, unpretentious, beautifully written with a quiet humor that includes the dual function/attraction of breasts as well as racism, misogyny, antisemitism, and always class issues. Surely wet nurses are not the second but the oldest profession: even ladies of the night had to be born and nurtured first. The wet nurse, revered and reviled throughout history, is the subject of artist Barbara Zuckers book, aptly named