I saw that review - Cassidy is a Boston Globe reporter - I'm rather wary of a reporter writing history on a topic central to women's history, gender history, and medical history. From what I saw in the review the book seems rather, er, melodramatic.
Certainly my opinion is also biased since my advisor is pretty much the academic authority on childbirth: Brought to Bed was her last book on childbirth; right now she's writing on fathers in the birthroom.