Enjoying the Interval: Murray Enkin: A Life

Book excerpt: Anyone who has enjoyed the great happiness and intimacy of a family-centred birth, and any midwife or health professional who has attended one, owes a debt of gratitude to internationally known Canadian doctor, researcher, and medical reformer, Murray Enkin. Enjoying the Interval takes on the fascinating, joyful task of exploring Dr Enkin’s identity and achievements along with the social context that shaped them. It offers a critical assessment of the ongoing challenges in maternity care, the field to which Enkin devoted his life, but it is also the story of an immigrant Jewish family's contribution to Canadian society and the wider world. Using archival sources and interviews, the book traces Enkin’s story from his birth in 1924; through his early young married life, education, and medical practice; to his passionate championing of the emerging childbirth reform movement and its influence. Interweaving the personal and professional to provide insight into the man, the times and the causes that shaped him, it not only recognises Enkin’s distinctive social contribution but also that of his family and colleagues. It chronicles the highly personable Enkin’s days as a med student awestruck by the courage and beauty of women in labour to his joyful life as a husband and father, to his international impact as a practitioner, academic and researcher, and as an inveterate traveller. Scholarly, yet accessible, it will prove of interest to professional and lay readers alike. Enjoying the Interval is an account of an important social movement that shook the medical establishment, but it’s also a love story, a travelogue, and an entertaining portrait of a complex man who helped to change the world for the better.