This is a large, carefully researched book of complete reproductions or extensive quotations from 103 milestone articles on obstetrics and gynecology with expert commentary by Dr. Harold Speert. The articles are presented in ten sections dealing with anatomy and embryology; signs, tests, and rules; menstruation, pregnancy, and labor; bacteria and infections; tumors and endometriosis; syndromes; positions; instruments; operations and therapeutic procedures; and the ovarian hormones and contraception. The book also contains an appendix on early obstetric texts and includes material never before translated into English. As Dr. Speert explains in his Preface, "In these pages the original authors have been allowed to speak for themselves, through intact reproductions or extensive quotations of their own writings. My objective has been to provide for students, clinicians, researchers, and historians a distillate of the literature that has made the discipline distinctive."