How did ordinary people in seventeenth-century England conceptualize the biological and social processes of human reproduction? Mary E. Fissell, a scholar of early modern history, examines the intersection of popular culture and medical understanding during a period of intense political upheaval. By analyzing a diverse array of vernacular sources, she argues that the human body served as a primary metaphor for the state, meaning that the political instability of the English Civil War directly influenced how common citizens interpreted conception, pregnancy, and childbirth.

Historians and scholars of gender studies frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of popular medical belief and political history. Readers often note the meticulous use of primary sources to reconstruct the mentalities of ordinary people in early modern England.