A highly praised and hotly debated anthropological study, Death Without Weeping explores one of the most basic assumptions about human nature: maternal devotion to infant well-being. Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a professor at the University of California–Berkeley, draws on several decades of experience in anthropological research and advocacy in formulating her arguments about the circumstances that influence mothers’ decision-making about caring for their babies.

Probing the lives of poor people of African heritage in northeast Brazil, Scheper-Hughes aims to explain the high infant mortality rates. After learning that many mothers lose infants in their first few months of life, she investigates both the reasons for infant deaths and the mothers’ attitudes toward loss. The wide-ranging book offers a panoramic view of the development of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazilian cities, as well as close-ups of the lives of individuals who struggle to eke out a living there. Chronicling the stories of numerous mothers who have lost at least one baby, the author explains how they cope with such devastating losses, often with the help of religious beliefs in the spiritual salvation of their “little angels.” She also attends to the social framework that supports very limited medical services in the shantytowns.

In laying out her commitment to advocacy, the author includes her support for improved social services in Brazil, especially in regard to prenatal care, family planning, and maternal and child health. Critics of the book have often viewed her approach differently. Scheper-Hughes, who is white, has been accused of inaccurately portraying the subjects, who are primarily black, as neglectful or even abusive. These accusations center on the interpretation that she claims that poor women allow their babies to die rather than seek medical attention. Scheper-Hughes, however, notes that she has highlighted numerous instances of mothers’ unsuccessful attempts to obtain adequate medical care, and she emphasizes social reforms that would provide improved services.