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Eve's Herbs. John M. Riddle. 341 pp. Harvard University Press, 1997. $39.95.
Athough this exhaustive accounting of abortion and women's contraception from ancient to modern times opens with a discussion of Roe v. Wade, the bulk of the book is a history of herbs that women used to control fertility and of the forces that have limited herb use.
The author seeks to convince the reader that these herbs were effective as contraceptives and sometimes in terminating pregnancy. The evidence he cites is not limited to testimonials common to herbal remedies but...