title: Xi'an

text: Chang'an was devastated at the end of the Tang dynasty in 904. Residents were forced to move to the new capital city in Luoyang. Only a small area in the city continued to be occupied thereafter. During the Ming dynasty, a new wall was constructed in 1370 and remains intact to this day. The wall measures in circumference, in height, and in thickness at the base; a moat was also built outside the walls. The new wall and moat would protect a much smaller city of .


title: Xi'an

text: In October 1911, during the Xinhai revolution, revolutionaries stormed the Manchu fort in Xi'an. Most of the city's 20,000 Manchus were killed. The Hui Muslim community was divided in its support for the revolution. The Hui Muslims of Shaanxi supported the revolutionaries, while the Hui Muslims of Gansu supported the Qing. The native Hui Muslims (Mohammedans) of Xi'an (Shaanxi province) joined the Han Chinese revolutionaries in slaughtering the Manchus. Some wealthy Manchus survived by being ransomed. Wealthy Han Chinese enslaved Manchu girls and poor Han Chinese troops seized young Manchu women as wives. Hui Muslims also seized young pretty Manchu girls and raised them as Muslims.


title: Xi'an

text: A British missionary who witnessed the massacre commented that "Old and young, men and women, children alike, were all butchered... Houses were plundered and then burnt; those who would fain have laid hidden till the storm was past, were forced to come out into the open. The revolutionaries, protected by a parapet of the wall, poured a heavy, unceasing, relentless fire into the doomed Tartar (Manchu) city, those who tried to escape thence into the Chinese city were cut down as they emerged from the gates."


title: Xi'an

text: In 1936, the Xi'an Incident took place inside the city during the Chinese Civil War. The incident brought the Kuomintang (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party to a truce in order to concentrate on fighting against the Japanese Invasion.


title: Xi'an

text: On March 11, 1938, an aerial battle broke out for the first time over Xi'an as Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aircraft attacked the city and was engaged by Chinese Air Force I-15 fighter planes led by Lt. Cen Zeliu of the 5th Pursuit Group, 17th Squadron. While repeatedly attacked by air, Shaanxi was heavily fortified by units of the Eighth Route Army; Xi'an was never taken by the Japanese forces.


title: Xi'an

text: On May 20, 1949, the Communist-controlled People's Liberation Army captured the city of Xi'an from the Kuomintang force.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an made headlines for being one of the many cities where the 2012 China anti-Japanese demonstrations occurred.


title: Xi'an

text: In 2022, Xi'an witnessed the largest COVID-19 community outbreak since the initial months of the pandemic hit China. From 23 December 2021, the city was put into strict lockdown after local authorities reported more than 250 cases, traced to the Delta variant by authorities. This led to stressed healthcare and delayed or insufficient food deliveries to some part of the city. Restrictions of Xi'an were lifted on January 24.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an lies on the Guanzhong Plain in the south-central part of Shaanxi province, on a flood plain created by the eight surrounding rivers and streams. The urban area of Xi'an is located at .


title: Xi'an

text: The city borders the northern foot of the Qin Mountains (Qinling) to the south, and the banks of the Wei River to the north. Hua Shan, one of the five sacred Taoist mountains, is located away to the east of the city. Not far to the north is the Loess Plateau.


title: Xi'an

text: At the beginning of Han dynasty, Prime Minister Zhang Liang advised the emperor Liu Bang to choose Guanzhong as the capital of the Han dynasty: "Guanzhong Plain is located behind Mount Xiao and Hangu Pass, and connects Long (Gansu) and Shu (Sichuan). Lands of thousand miles rich in harvest can be found there, as if it belongs to the nation of heaven." () Since then, Guanzhong is also known as the 'Nation of the Heaven'.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an has a temperate climate that is influenced by the East Asian monsoon, classified under the Köppen climate classification as situated on the borderline between a semi-arid climate ("BSk") and humid subtropical climate ("Cwa"). The Wei River valley is characterised by hot, humid summers, cold, dry winters, and dry springs and autumns. Most of the annual precipitation is delivered from July to late October. Snow occasionally falls in winter but rarely settles for long. Dust storms often occur during March and April as the city rapidly warms up. Summer months also experience frequent but short thunderstorms. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from around the freezing mark in January to in July, with an annual mean of . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 31 percent in December to 47 percent in August, the city receives 1,536 hours of bright sunshine annually. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from on January 11, 1955, to on June 21, 1998. A highest record of was registered in another station on June 17, 2006.


title: Xi'an

text: The Shaanxi Astronomical Observatory was established in 1966. In 1975, according to the Geodetic Origin Report of the People's Republic of China, 'in order to avoid bias in the mensuration as much as possible, the Geodetic Origin would be in central mainland China.' Lintong (), a town near Xi'an was chosen. Since 1986, Chinese Standard Time (CST) was set from NTSC. The National Time Service Center (NTSC), the Chinese Academy of Sciences is an institute which is mainly engaged in the service and research on time and frequency. NTSC takes charge of generating and maintaining the national standard time scale, disseminating the time and frequency signals. The autonomous standard time scales of universal time and atomic time and the dissemination techniques with LF radio and HF radio were established successively during the 1970s and 1980s, which meet all the requirements for different applications on the whole, such as the scientific researches, national economy, etc.


title: Xi'an

text: Compared to the census data from 2007, the population has increased by 1.4 million persons. The population is 51.66 percent male and 48.34 percent female. Among its districts, Yanta has the largest population, with around 1.08 million inhabitants.


title: Xi'an

text: The Xi'an metropolitan area was estimated by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to have, , a population of 12.9 million, of which 5,740,000 is urban.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an has many areas that are easily accessible on foot. In many commercial, residential, educational zones in the city, especially in the shopping and entertainment districts around the Bell Tower, underpasses and overpasses have been built for the safety and convenience of pedestrians.


title: Xi'an

text: A bicycle-sharing network started operating in Xi'an from the year 2013 and today has 52,000 bikes, used by over 200,000 people per day. Taxi services are numerous, but many citizens of Xi'an still commute to work using the city's 270 official municipal bus routes serviced by a fleet of over 7,800 buses, with an average system-wide ridership of over 4 million people per day. The bus network is complemented by a rapidly expanding subway system that carries over 1.5 million commuters per day. There are more than 2 million registered automobiles in Xi'an; the growing number of personal automobiles also means traffic jams are a common urban issue.


title: Xi'an

text: Line 2, running through the city from north (North Railway Station) to south (Weiqu Nan), was the first line opened to the public on September 16, 2011. Operations began on September 28, 2011. This line is long with 17 stations. Line 1 opened on September 15, 2013. As a west–east railway, its 19 stations connect Houweizhai and Fangzhicheng. Line 3 runs from northeast (Baoshuiqu) to southwest (Yuhuazhai) and opened on November 8, 2016. Line 4, which is basically parallel to Line 2 on its east except for the northern parts, runs from the North Square of the North Railway Station [Beikezhan (Beiguangchang)] to south (Hangtianxincheng) and was available publicly on December 26, 2018. Line 5 opened on December 28, 2020. This line is 41.6 kilometres long with 31 stations from Matengkong to Chuangxingang.


title: Xi'an

text: The subway system covers some of the most famous attractions, such as Banpo Museum (Banpo Station, Line 1), Bell and Drum Tower (Line 2), Fortifications of Xi'an (Line 2), the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (Line 3 and Line 4), the Daminggong National Heritage Park (Line 4) and Shaanxi History Museum (Line 2, 3 and 4), etc.


title: Xi'an

text: The first metro departure time for Line 1, 2, 3 and 4 is 6:00, the last metro departure time for Line 3 and 4 is 23:00, for Line 1 is 23:30, and for Line 2 is 23:50.


title: Xi'an

text: On December 30, 2008, a fire accident occurred that was extinguished within an hour and all workers evacuated safely. Sixty-six hours later, on January 2, another fire occurred at another station on Line 2.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an's railway station, located just north of Xi'an walled city, is one of the eight major national railway stations, and the main railway transportation hub of Shaanxi Province. The new Xi'an North railway station, situated a few miles to the north, is the station for the high-speed trains of the Zhengzhou–Xi'an High-Speed Railway. With 34 platforms, it is the largest railway station in Northwest China. Construction of the station began on September 19, 2008. The station was opened on January 11, 2011. As of May 2012, Xi'an North Station is served only by the fast (G-series and D-series) trains running on the Zhengzhou–Xi'an high-speed railway; one of them continues south to Hankou.


title: Xi'an

text: The city's other stations include Xi'an West, Xi'an East, Xi'an South, Sanmincun, and Fangzhicheng railway stations.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an Railway Station covers , has 5 passenger platforms, and 24 tracks. It provides 112 services to 80 000 people daily. Among the destinations served by direct trains from Xi'an are Beijing, Zhengzhou, Lanzhou, Baoji, and Mount Hua. China Railway High-speed 2 now run an express services from Xi'an to Baoji and Xi'an to Zhengzhou; with a total running time to Baoji of under 90 minutes, and 2 hours to Zhengzhou. The Zhengzhou–Xi'an high-speed railway also serves Xi'an. Construction work began on September 25, 2005, the railway opened for service on February 6, 2010. The railway has made air service between Zhengzhou and Xi'an uncompetitive. All passenger flights between the two cities were suspended within 48 days of start of regular high-speed rail service.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (airport code: XIY) is the major airport serving the city and it is the largest airport in the northwestern part of China. It is 25 miles northwest of Xi'an city centre, and 8 miles northeast of the centre of Xianyang. China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines are the main airlines using the airport. Terminal 3 and the second runway were opened on May 3, 2012.


title: Xi'an

text: Other than linking to most Chinese cities, the airport also has flights to several major Asian cities. One incident, however, is in 1994, when China Northwest Airlines flight 2303 broke up in mid-air and crashed near Xi'an, en route to Guangzhou from Xi'an. A maintenance error was responsible. All 160 people on board died. , it remains the deadliest airplane crash ever to occur in mainland China.


title: Xi'an

text: "Liang pi" (cold rice noodles; simplified Chinese: 凉皮; traditional Chinese: 涼皮; pinyin: "liángpí" ) are wheat or rice noodles served cold with vinegar and chili oil.


title: Xi'an

text: "Biangbiang mian", also known as "youpo chemian" (), are thick and long hand-pulled noodles, typically served with red hot pepper.


title: Xi'an

text: Qinqiang (Voice of Qin) is the oldest and most extensive of the four major types of Chinese opera. Another one would be the Empress of the Great Tang is China's first Tang Dynasty dance and music show. The story is based on the life of the famous Chinese historical figure, Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. Through live performances by a classical Chinese orchestra and state-of-the-art stage design, this show will take you back to the glory of the legendary Empress Wu Zetian and the Great Tang Empire.


title: Xi'an

text: The most influential religions in Xi'an are the Chinese traditional religion and Taoist schools, represented by many major and minor temples. Among these there are a City God Temple, completely reconstructed in the 2010s, and a Temple of Confucius.


title: Xi'an

text: The first recorded Christian missionary in China was Alopen, a Syriac-speaker, who arrived in Xi'an (then known as Chang'an) in 635 along the Silk Road. The Nestorian Stele, now located in Xi'an's Beilin Museum, is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents the 150 years of early Christianity in China following Alopen. It is a limestone block with text in both Chinese and Syriac describing the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China. The Daqin Pagoda, a Buddhist pagoda in Zhouzhi County of Xi'an, has been suggested to have originally been a Nestorian Christian church from the Tang Dynasty.


title: Xi'an

text: Baptist missionaries from England ran a hospital in Xi'an. In 1892, Arthur Gostick Shorrock and Moir Duncan founded the "Sianfu Mission", in present-day Xi'an.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an has a large Muslim community, the significant majority are from the Hui group, there are an estimated 50,000 Hui Muslims in Xi'an. There are seven mosques in Xi'an, the best known being the Great Mosque.


title: Xi'an

text: As part of the China Western Development policy, Xi’an became a major target for accelerated attention. From 1997 to 2006, the industrial output value of Xi’an's service industry increased at an annual average rate of 13 percent, compared to traditional service industries of 0.74 percent, representing a growth from US$8.113 billion to US$25.85 billion. Xi'an is the largest economy of the Shaanxi province, with a GDP of 324.1 billion Yuan in 2010. On average this value increases by 14.5 percent annually, and accounts for approximately 41.8 percent of Shaanxi's total GDP. At least fifty-eight countries have established over 2,560 enterprises in Xi'an, including nineteen of the Fortune 500 enterprises. These include ABB, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Coca-Cola Company and Boeing.


title: Xi'an

text: In 2020, Xi'an was ranked as a Beta- (global second tier) city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Xi'an is also one of the world's top 100 financial centers, according to the Global Financial Centres Index.


title: Xi'an

text: Important industries include equipment manufacturing, tourism, and service outsourcing. The manufacturing industry had an annual output of RMB 36.5 billion, accounting for 44.5 percent of the city's total. Furthermore, as one of China's four ancient capitals, Xi'an's many cultural sites, including the Terracotta Army, the City Wall of Xi'an, and the Famen Temple, make tourism an important industry as well. In 2010, 52 million domestic tourists visited Xi'an, earning a total income of RMB 40.52 billion. On average, revenue increases by 36.4 percent per year, and foreign-exchange earnings (530 million in 2009) increase by around 35.8 percent.


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an is also one of the first service outsourcing cities in China, with over 800 corporations in the industry. The city's output value from this sector exceeded RMB 23 billion in 2008. Employment in the sector doubled from 1997 to 2006, from a base of 60,000, and computer consulting also doubled from 16,000 to 32,000. As a result of the importance of the software-outsourcing industry, the city planned construction of a Software New Town, which is scheduled to be completed in 2015 with 30 billion RMB investment. Other major export goods include lighting equipment and automobile parts, while its major import goods are mechanical and electrical products. Internationally, Xi'an's largest trade partner is the United States.


title: Xi'an

text: The major industrial zone in Xi'an is the Xi'an Economic and Technological Development Zone. The Jiangcungou landfill in Xi'an was China's largest landfill site before its closure in 2019.


title: Xi'an

text: The growing economy of the city also supports the development of a software industry, and the city is a pioneer in software industry in China. The Xi'an Software Park within the Xi'an Hi-Tech Industries Development Zone (XDZ) has attracted over 1,085 corporations and 106,000 employees as of 2012. Xi'an is described as having" large pool of cheap human resources from the 100 universities in the area, it hoovers up around 3,000 computer graduates every year, each earning approximately $120 a month—half the wages for the equivalent job in Beijing."


title: Xi'an

text: In November 2006, Xi'an and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation jointly set up Xi'an Aerospace Science and Technology Industrial Base. From its establishment, the base has focused on the development of the civil space industry, including equipment manufacturing, software and service outsourcing, new materials and solar photovoltaics.


title: Xi'an

text: Apart from the core area, the base will cover Xi'an and the Guanzhong area and the expansion zone will reach other parts of Northwest China and Southwest China. It is expected that by 2012 the total industry output can reach 2.8 billion us dollars with about 10 to 20 brand products with intellectual property rights and 5 to 8 products with global competitiveness.


title: Xi'an

text: In 2008, after the launch of the initial aerospace centre in Shanghai, the PRC is constructing another civil aerospace centre in the Shaanxi province. The State Development and Reform Commission approved the planning of Xi'an National Civil Aerospace Industrial Base on December 26, 2007. The National Civil Aerospace Industrial Base of Xi'an, set to cover , will focus on developing satellites, new materials, energies, IT and other technologies for civil applications.


title: Xi'an

text: There are a total of 60 universities in the city, with the most famous one being the Xi'an Jiaotong University (), which was ranked 100-150 worldwide. Other ones also include the Northwestern Polytechnical University (), Xidian University (), Chang'an University (), Northwest University (), Northwest University of Political Science and Law () and; Shaanxi Normal University ().


title: Xi'an

text: Xi'an is a world leading city for scientific research and as of 2022, it ranked among the world's top 30 cities and China's top 10 cities by scientific research output by the Nature Index. It ranked first in West China region, with a combined population of almost 300 million. The city also hosted the 2011 World Horticultural Exposition.


title: Xi'an

text: Because of the city's many historical monuments and a plethora of ancient ruins and tombs in the vicinity, tourism has been an important component of the local economy, and the Xi'an region is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China.


title: Xi'an

text: The city has many important historical sites, and some are ongoing archaeological projects, such as the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Army. There are several burial mounds, tombs of the Zhou dynasty kings located in the city. Xi'an also contains some 800 royal mausoleums and tombs from the Han dynasty, with some of them yielding hundreds of sculpted clay soldiers, and remains of sacrificial temples from the Han era. The city has numerous Tang dynasty pagodas and is noted for its history museum and its stele forest, which is housed in an 11th-century Confucian temple containing large stone tablets from various dynasties.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Ammonite is a 2020 romantic drama film written and directed by Francis Lee. The film is loosely inspired by the life of British palaeontologist Mary Anning, played by Kate Winslet. The film centres on a speculative romantic relationship between Anning and Charlotte Murchison, played by Saoirse Ronan. Gemma Jones, James McArdle, Alec Secăreanu and Fiona Shaw also star.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2020. It was released in Australia on 14 January 2021 by Transmission Films and in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2021 by Lionsgate.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: In the 1840s, fossil collector and paleontologist Mary Anning lives with her ailing mother Molly, who helps Mary run a small shop in Lyme Regis, Dorset. Mary spends the early mornings on the beach at low tide in search of fossils for the shop, with tiny ammonites being her most common find. When she returns, she helps her mother wash and polish a collection of eight animal figurines.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: One day, geologist Roderick Murchison visits Mary's shop accompanied by his wife, Charlotte. He expresses his admiration for Mary's work and offers to pay her for a guided trip to the shore where he can learn from Mary about fossil collecting. While initially antagonistic, Mary accepts his offer. That night in their room at the Three Cups Hotel, Roderick treats Charlotte coldly, rebuffing her sexual advances and saying that now is not the time to have another baby.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Roderick returns from his morning trip with Mary to the shoreline and finds Charlotte confined to her bed in a depressed state. He returns to Mary's shop and reveals that Charlotte has been sent to Lyme Regis in order to convalesce, and entrusts her to Mary's care as he will be departing to Europe for four to six weeks. Mary reluctantly agrees, not wanting to pass up the money. Charlotte begins going out with Mary on her morning beach trips.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: After bathing in the ocean as part of her rehabilitation, Charlotte falls ill with a high fever. Her physician, Dr. Lieberson, prescribes bed rest and assigns Mary to be her bedside nurse. Mary visits her friend Elizabeth Philpot, from whom she purchases a jar of salve to aid Charlotte's recovery. Mary refuses Elizabeth's friendly offer to come in for a visit. Charlotte quickly recovers, and from then on accompanies Mary on more outings and tries to help with domestic chores. Together with Mary, she is able to construct a mirror frame made of cowries. Saddened by her own failed attempts to have a baby, Charlotte learns that the figurines which Molly cleans every day represent her eight deceased children.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Dr. Lieberson visits the shop and invites Mary to an evening recital. Mary accepts but insists on bringing Charlotte as well, whom she believes has made a full recovery. That night, Charlotte meets and mingles with the townsfolk as an overwhelmed and jealous Mary smokes outside in the rain while watching through the window. They watch a magic lantern show set to a cello performance before Mary leaves and returns home during the rainstorm. Charlotte arrives soon after and finds Mary writing a romantic poem in her journal.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Using the boards from a beached boat, Mary and Charlotte transfer a large rock to the shop. Inside, they find the fossil of an Ichthyosaur similar to one which Mary found when she was aged 11 and sent to The British Museum. As they clean Mary's tools in preparation before going to bed, Charlotte kisses Mary goodnight; this inflames their attraction to one another, and they engage in oral sex. Their relationship blossoms, as they gleefully swim in the ocean and share their meals. A letter soon arrives from Roderick, instructing Charlotte to return home to London. Distraught, Charlotte and Mary have passionate sex the night before Charlotte's departure. Sometime later, Molly suffers a fall at home and dies soon afterwards. Elizabeth visits the depressed Mary to express her condolences. She encourages Mary to not abandon her relationship with Charlotte, as Mary did with their own romantic relationship after the death of Mary's father.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Mary receives a letter from Charlotte asking her to make the journey to London. Upon arriving at the Murchison house, Mary sees one of her large ammonite fossils on display in a glass cabinet. Charlotte takes Mary upstairs, where she shows Mary a fully furnished bedroom ready for her to move into. Perturbed, Mary leaves after accusing Charlotte of not respecting her life, stating she will not become an ornament for Charlotte to display in a "gilded cage."


title: Ammonite (film)

text: At the British Museum, Mary makes her way through the halls of paintings and sculptures. She finds the exhibit case containing her original "Ichthyosaurus" but sees that it makes no mention of her. Charlotte arrives, and the two women gaze at each other through the glass.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: In December 2018, it was announced Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan had joined the cast of the film, with Francis Lee directing the screenplay he wrote. Iain Canning, Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly and Emile Sherman serve as producers with See-Saw Films, BBC Films and the British Film Institute. In March 2019, Fiona Shaw announced her role in the film. In May 2019, it was announced Alec Secareanu, James McArdle and Gemma Jones had joined the cast of the film.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Principal photography began on 11 March 2019, in Lyme Regis, Dorset. The scenes were shot chronologically in order to deepen the immersion in the characters' psychological trajectory. David Tucker, director of the Lyme Regis Museum, consulted on the film's scientific accuracy.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: In February 2019, Lionsgate and Transmission Films acquired UK and Australian distribution rights to "Ammonite", respectively. In January 2020, Neon acquired US and Canadian distribution rights to the film for $3 million. "Ammonite" was set to world premiere at that year's Cannes Film Festival, prior to its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also selected to screen at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado in September of that year, prior to its cancellation also due to the pandemic.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: "Ammonite" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September. Winslet was awarded TIFF's "Tribute Actor Award". "Ammonite" has or is scheduled to be screened at several film festivals including Deauville, Hamptons, Mill Valley, Newfest, Ghent, London, Chicago and Montclair.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: "Ammonite" was theatrically released in the United States on 13 November. It was subsequently released in Australia on 14 January 2021 and in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2021.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "The chemistry between Saoirse Ronan and a never-better Kate Winslet helps "Ammonite" transcend its period romance trappings." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Katie Rife of "The A.V. Club" gave the film a B− for a lack of chemistry between the leads and an inconsistent tone: "this is a film that runs either burning-hot or bone-chilling cold, contrasting blue toes dipping into freezing, frothy sea water with flushed cheeks and tousled updos in post-coital repose". "The Hollywood Reporter" placed the movie number 4 at their best films of 2020 year-end list. The film was placed at the 27th position on the IndieWire list of the 50 Best Movies of 2020 and 43rd at the "Esquire" year-end list. The movie also appeared on the "RogerEbert.com" "The Best Films of 2020" year-end list.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: There is no evidence as to Anning's sexuality in real life, and the film's historical accuracy has been questioned. Two of Anning's distant relatives were reported as having differing views on the decision to depict her as a lesbian, with Lorraine Anning supporting the film, but Barbara Anning criticizing the choice.


title: Ammonite (film)

text: Lee defended his decision, saying in a series of tweets, "After seeing queer history be routinely 'straightened' throughout culture, and given a historical figure where there is no evidence whatsoever of a heterosexual relationship, is it not permissible to view that person within another context? Would these newspaper writers have felt the need to whip up uninformed quotes from self-proclaimed experts if the character’s sexuality had been assumed to be heterosexual?" Some reviews also criticized the choice. A piece in "The Guardian" read, "No one knows if Mary Anning had lovers. But what a new film does get right is the vital role women played in her life".


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. Symptoms can include an abnormal appearance, short height, low body weight, small head size, poor coordination, behavioral problems, learning difficulties, and problems with hearing and sight. Those affected are more likely to have trouble with school, the legal system, alcohol, other drugs, and other areas of high risk. The several forms of the condition (in order of most severe to least severe) are: fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), partial fetal alcohol syndrome (pFAS), alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD), static encephalopathy, alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) and neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (ND-PAE). Some authorities accept only FAS as a diagnosis, seeing the evidence as inconclusive with respect to other types.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are caused by the mother's drinking alcohol while pregnant with the affected person. Surveys from the United States found that about 10% of pregnant women drank alcohol in the past month, and 20% to 30% drank at some point during the pregnancy. 3.6% of pregnant American women met criteria for an alcohol use disorder in a 2001 epidemiological study. The risk of FASD depends on the amount consumed, the frequency of consumption, and the points in pregnancy at which the alcohol is consumed. Other risk factors include the mother's older age, smoking, and poor diet. There is no known safe amount or time to drink alcohol during pregnancy. Although drinking small amounts does not cause facial abnormalities, it may cause behavioral problems. Alcohol crosses the blood–brain barrier and both directly and indirectly affects a developing fetus. Diagnosis is based on the signs and symptoms in the person.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are preventable by the mother's avoiding alcohol during pregnancy. For this reason, medical authorities recommend that women completely avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy and while trying to conceive. Although the condition is permanent, treatment can improve outcomes. Interventions may include parent–child interaction therapy, efforts to modify child behavior, and drugs.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: FASD is estimated to affect between 1% and 5% of people in the United States and Western Europe. FAS is believed to occur in between 0.2 and 9 per 1,000 live births in the United States. In South Africa, some populations have rates as high as 9%. The negative effects of alcohol during pregnancy have been described since ancient times. The lifetime cost per child with FAS in the United States was estimated at $2 million (for an overall cost across the country of over $4 billion) by the CDC in 2002. However, a 2015 review article estimated the overall costs to Canada from FASD at $9.7 billion (including from crime, healthcare, education, etc.). The term "fetal alcohol syndrome" was first used in 1973.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: FASDs encompass a range of physical and neurodevelopmental problems that can result from prenatal alcohol exposure. The most severe condition is called fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which refers to individuals who have a specific set of birth defects and neurodevelopmental disorders characteristic of the diagnosis.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Some accept only FAS as a diagnosis, seeing the evidence as inconclusive with respect to other types.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: These conditions believed to be related to prenatal alcohol exposure, such as spontaneous abortion and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), are also considered to be on the spectrum of related disorders. It is unclear if identifying a FASD-related condition benefits the individual.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association introduced neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (ND-PAE) into the DSM-V as a "condition for further study" and as a specified condition under, "other specified neurodevelopmental disorders" as a way to better study the behavioral aspects of all FASD disorders. Though similar sounding, ND-PAE is the spectrum-wide term for the psychiatric, behavioral, and neurological symptoms of all FASDs, where as ARND is the specific diagnosis of the non-dysmorphic type of FASD where a majority of the symptoms are witnessed.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The key of FASD can vary between individuals exposed to alcohol during pregnancy. While consensus exists for the definition and diagnosis of FAS, minor variations among the systems lead to differences in definitions and diagnostic cut-off criteria for other diagnoses across the FASD continuum.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The central nervous system damage criteria particularly lacks clear consensus. A working knowledge of the key features is helpful in understanding FASD diagnoses and conditions, and each is reviewed with attention to similarities and differences across the four diagnostic systems. More than 400 problems, however, can occur with FASD.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: In terms of FASD, growth deficiency is defined as significantly below average height, weight or both due to prenatal alcohol exposure and can be assessed at any point in the lifespan. Growth measurements must be adjusted for parental height, gestational age (for a premature infant), and other postnatal insults (e.g., poor nutrition), although birth height and weight are the preferred measurements. Deficiencies are documented when height or weight falls at or below the 10th percentile of standardized growth charts appropriate to the population. Prenatal or postnatal presentation of growth deficits can occur, but are most often postnatal.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Criteria for FASD are least specific in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) diagnostic system ("low birth weight..., decelerating weight not due to nutrition..., [or] disproportional low weight to height" p. 4 of executive summary), while the CDC use the 10th percentile as a cut-off to determine growth deficiency. The "4-Digit Diagnostic Code" allows for mid-range gradations in growth deficiency (between the 3rd and 10th percentiles) and severe growth deficiency at or below the 3rd percentile. Growth deficiency (at severe, moderate, or mild levels) contributes to diagnoses of FAS and pFAS, but not ARND or static encephalopathy.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: In the initial studies that discovered FAS, growth deficiency was a requirement for inclusion in the studies; thus, all the original people with FAS had growth deficiency as an artifact of sampling characteristics used to establish criteria for the syndrome. That is, growth deficiency is a key feature of FASD because growth deficiency was a criterion for inclusion in the study that defined FAS. This suggests growth deficiency may be less critical for understanding the disabilities of FASD than the neurobehavioral sequelae to the brain damage. Canadian guidelines updated in 2016 deleted growth as a diagnostic criterion.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Several characteristic craniofacial abnormalities are often visible in individuals with FAS. The presence of FAS facial features indicates brain damage, although brain damage may also exist in their absence. FAS facial features (and most other visible, but non-diagnostic, deformities) are believed to be caused mainly during the 10th to 20th week of gestation.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Refinements in diagnostic criteria since 1975 have yielded three distinctive and diagnostically significant facial features known to result from prenatal alcohol exposure and distinguishes FAS from other disorders with partially overlapping characteristics. The three FAS facial features are:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Measurement of FAS facial features uses criteria developed by the University of Washington. The lip and philtrum are measured by a trained physician with the Lip-Philtrum Guide, a five-point Likert scale with representative photographs of lip and philtrum combinations ranging from normal (ranked 1) to severe (ranked 5). Palpebral fissure length (PFL) is measured in millimeters with either calipers or a clear ruler and then compared to a PFL growth chart, also developed by the University of Washington.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Ranking FAS facial features is complicated because the three separate facial features can be affected independently by prenatal alcohol. A summary of the criteria follows:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Central nervous system (CNS) damage is the primary feature of any FASD diagnosis. Prenatal alcohol exposure, which is classified as a teratogen, can damage the brain across a continuum of gross to subtle impairments, depending on the amount, timing, and frequency of the exposure as well as genetic predispositions of the fetus and mother. While functional abnormalities are the behavioral and cognitive expressions of the FASD disability, CNS damage can be assessed in three areas: structural, neurological, and functional impairments.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: All four diagnostic systems allow for assessment of CNS damage in these areas, but criteria vary. The IOM system requires structural or neurological impairment for a diagnosis of FAS, but also allows a "complex pattern" of functional anomalies for diagnosing PFAS and ARND. The "4-Digit Diagnostic Code" and CDC guidelines allow for a positive CNS finding in any of the three areas for any FASD diagnosis, but functional anomalies must measure at two standard deviations or worse in three or more functional domains for a diagnosis of FAS, PFAS, and ARND. The "4-Digit Diagnostic Code" also allows for an FASD diagnosis when only two functional domains are measured at two standard deviations or worse. The "4-Digit Diagnostic Code" further elaborates the degree of CNS damage according to four ranks:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Structural abnormalities of the brain are observable, physical damage to the brain or brain structures caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. Structural impairments may include microcephaly (small head size) of two or more standard deviations below the average, or other abnormalities in brain structure (e.g., agenesis of the corpus callosum, cerebellar hypoplasia).


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Microcephaly is determined by comparing head circumference (often called occipitofrontal circumference, or OFC) to appropriate OFC growth charts. Other structural impairments must be observed through medical imaging techniques by a trained physician. Because imaging procedures are expensive and relatively inaccessible to most people, diagnosis of FAS is not frequently made via structural impairments, except for microcephaly.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Evidence of a CNS structural impairment due to prenatal alcohol exposure will result in a diagnosis of FAS, and neurological and functional impairments are highly likely.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: During the first trimester of pregnancy, alcohol interferes with the migration and organization of brain cells, which can create structural deformities or deficits within the brain. During the third trimester, damage can be caused to the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory, learning, emotion, and encoding visual and auditory information, all of which can create neurological and functional CNS impairments as well.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: As of 2002, there were 25 reports of autopsies on infants known to have FAS. The first was in 1973, on an infant who died shortly after birth. The examination revealed extensive brain damage, including microcephaly, migration anomalies, callosal dysgenesis, and a massive neuroglial, leptomeningeal heterotopia covering the left hemisphere.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: In 1977, Dr. Clarren described a second infant whose mother was a binge drinker. The infant died ten days after birth. The autopsy showed severe hydrocephalus, abnormal neuronal migration, and a small corpus callosum (which connects the two brain hemispheres) and cerebellum. FAS has also been linked to brainstem and cerebellar changes, agenesis of the corpus callosum and anterior commissure, neuronal migration errors, absent olfactory bulbs, meningomyelocele, and porencephaly.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: When structural impairments are not observable or do not exist, neurological impairments are assessed. In the context of FASD, neurological impairments are caused by prenatal alcohol exposure which causes general neurological damage to the central nervous system (CNS), the peripheral nervous system, or the autonomic nervous system. A determination of a neurological problem must be made by a trained physician, and must not be due to a postnatal insult, such as meningitis, concussion, traumatic brain injury, etc.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: All four diagnostic systems show virtual agreement on their criteria for CNS damage at the neurological level, and evidence of a CNS neurological impairment due to prenatal alcohol exposure will result in a diagnosis of FAS or pFAS, and functional impairments are highly likely.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Neurological problems are expressed as either hard signs, or diagnosable disorders, such as epilepsy or other seizure disorders, or soft signs. Soft signs are broader, nonspecific neurological impairments, or symptoms, such as impaired fine motor skills, neurosensory hearing loss, poor gait, clumsiness, and poor hand - eye coordination. Many soft signs have norm-referenced criteria, while others are determined through clinical judgment. "Clinical judgment" is only as good as the clinician, and soft signs should be assessed by either a pediatric neurologist, a pediatric neuropsychologist, or both.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: When structural or neurological impairments are not observed, all four diagnostic systems allow CNS damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure to be assessed in terms of functional impairments. Functional impairments are deficits, problems, delays, or abnormalities due to prenatal alcohol exposure (rather than hereditary causes or postnatal insults) in observable and measurable domains related to daily functioning, often referred to as developmental disabilities. There is no consensus on a specific pattern of functional impairments due to prenatal alcohol exposure and only CDC guidelines label developmental delays as such, so criteria (and FASD diagnoses) vary somewhat across diagnostic systems.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The four diagnostic systems list various CNS domains that can qualify for functional impairment that can determine an FASD diagnosis:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Other conditions may commonly co-occur with FAS, stemming from prenatal alcohol exposure. However, these conditions are considered alcohol-related birth defects and not diagnostic criteria for FAS.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is caused by a woman consuming alcohol while pregnant. Alcohol crosses through the placenta to the unborn child and can interfere with normal development. Alcohol is a teratogen (causes birth defects) and there is no known safe amount of alcohol to consume while pregnant and there is no known safe time during pregnancy to consume alcohol to prevent birth defects such as FASD. Evidence of harm from low levels of alcohol consumption is not clear and since there are not known safe amounts of alcohol, women are suggested to completely abstain from drinking when trying to get pregnant and while pregnant. Small amounts of alcohol may not cause an abnormal appearance, however, small amounts of alcohol consumption while pregnant may cause milder symptoms such as behavioral problems and also increases the risk of miscarriage.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Despite intense research efforts, the exact mechanism for the development of FAS or FASD is unknown. On the contrary, clinical and animal studies have identified a broad spectrum of pathways through which maternal alcohol can negatively affect the outcome of a pregnancy. Clear conclusions with universal validity are difficult to draw, since different ethnic groups show considerable genetic polymorphism for the hepatic enzymes responsible for ethanol detoxification.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Genetic examinations have revealed a continuum of long-lasting molecular effects that are not only timing specific but are also dosage specific; with even moderate amounts being able to cause alterations.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Additionally, ethanol may alter fetal development by interfering with retinoic acid signaling. Acetaldehyde, the main ethanol metabolite, can compete with retinaldehyde and prevent its oxidation to retinoic acid.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Because admission of alcohol use during pregnancy can stigmatize birth mothers, many are reluctant to admit to drinking or to provide an accurate report of the quantity they drank. This complicates diagnosis and treatment of the syndrome. As a result, diagnosis of the severity of FASD relies on protocols of observation of the child's physiology and behavior rather than maternal self-reporting.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Presently, four FASD diagnostic systems that diagnose FAS and other FASD conditions have been developed in North America:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Each diagnostic system requires that a complete FASD evaluation includes an assessment of the four key features of FASD, described below. A positive finding on all four features is required for a diagnosis of FAS. However, prenatal alcohol exposure and central nervous system damage are the critical elements of the spectrum of FASD, and a positive finding in these two features is sufficient for an FASD diagnosis that is not "full-blown FAS".


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: While the four diagnostic systems essentially agree on criteria for fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), there are still differences when full criteria for FAS are not met. This has resulted in differing and evolving nomenclature for other conditions across the spectrum of FASD, which may account for such a wide variety of terminology. Most individuals with deficits resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure do not express all features of FAS and fall into other FASD conditions. The Canadian guidelines recommend the assessment and descriptive approach of the "4-Digit Diagnostic Code" for each key feature of FASD and the terminology of the IOM in diagnostic categories, excepting ARBD.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Thus, other FASD conditions are partial expressions of FAS. However, these other FASD conditions may create disabilities similar to FAS if the key area of central nervous system damage shows clinical deficits in two or more of ten domains of brain functioning. Essentially, even though growth deficiency and/or FAS facial features may be mild or nonexistent in other FASD conditions, yet clinically significant brain damage of the central nervous system is present. In these other FASD conditions, an individual may be at greater risk for adverse outcomes because brain damage is present without associated visual cues of poor growth or the "FAS face" that might ordinarily trigger an FASD evaluation. Such individuals may be misdiagnosed with primary mental health disorders such as ADHD or oppositional defiance disorder without appreciation that brain damage is the underlying cause of these disorders, which requires a different treatment paradigm than typical mental health disorders. While other FASD conditions may not yet be included as an ICD or DSM-IV-TR diagnosis, they nonetheless pose significant impairment in functional behavior because of underlying brain damage.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the first diagnosable condition of FASD that was discovered. FAS is the only expression of FASD that has garnered consensus among experts to become an official ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis. To make this diagnosis or determine any FASD condition, a multi-disciplinary evaluation is necessary to assess each of the four key features for assessment. Generally, a trained physician will determine growth deficiency and FAS facial features. While a qualified physician may also assess central nervous system structural abnormalities and/or neurological problems, usually central nervous system damage is determined through psychological, speech-language, and occupational therapy assessments to ascertain clinically significant impairments in three or more of the Ten Brain Domains. Prenatal alcohol exposure risk may be assessed by a qualified physician, psychologist, social worker, or chemical health counselor. These professionals work together as a team to assess and interpret data of each key feature for assessment and develop an integrative, multi-disciplinary report to diagnose FAS (or other FASD conditions) in an individual.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Partial FAS (pFAS) was previously known as atypical FAS in the 1997 edition of the "4-Digit Diagnostic Code". People with pFAS have a confirmed history of prenatal alcohol exposure, but may lack growth deficiency or the complete facial stigmata. Central nervous system damage is present at the same level as FAS. These individuals have the same functional disabilities but "look" less like FAS.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Fetal alcohol effects (FAE) is a previous term for alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder and alcohol-related birth defects. It was initially used in research studies to describe humans and animals in whom teratogenic effects were seen after confirmed prenatal alcohol exposure (or unknown exposure for humans), but without obvious physical anomalies. Smith (1981) described FAE as an "extremely important concept" to highlight the debilitating effects of brain damage, regardless of the growth or facial features. This term has fallen out of favor with clinicians because it was often regarded by the public as a less severe disability than FAS, when in fact its effects can be just as detrimental.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) was initially suggested by the Institute of Medicine to replace the term FAE and focus on central nervous system damage, rather than growth deficiency or FAS facial features. The Canadian guidelines also use this diagnosis and the same criteria. While the "4-Digit Diagnostic Code" includes these criteria for three of its diagnostic categories, it refers to this condition as static encephalopathy. The behavioral effects of ARND are not necessarily unique to alcohol however, so use of the term must be within the context of confirmed prenatal alcohol exposure. ARND may be gaining acceptance over the terms FAE and ARBD to describe FASD conditions with central nervous system abnormalities or behavioral or cognitive abnormalities or both due to prenatal alcohol exposure without regard to growth deficiency or FAS facial features.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD), formerly known as possible fetal alcohol effect (PFAE), was a term proposed as an alternative to FAE and PFAE. The IOM presents ARBD as a list of congenital anomalies that are linked to maternal alcohol use but have no key features of FASD. PFAE and ARBD have fallen out of favor because these anomalies are not necessarily specific to maternal alcohol consumption and are not criteria for diagnosis of FASD.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Prenatal alcohol exposure is determined by interview of the biological mother or other family members knowledgeable of the mother's alcohol use during the pregnancy (if available), prenatal health records (if available), and review of available birth records, court records (if applicable), chemical dependency treatment records (if applicable), chemical biomarkers, or other reliable sources.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Exposure level is assessed as "confirmed exposure", "unknown exposure", and "confirmed absence of exposure" by the IOM, CDC and Canadian diagnostic systems. The "4-Digit Diagnostic Code" further distinguishes confirmed exposure as "High Risk" and "Some Risk":


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Amount, frequency, and timing of prenatal alcohol use can dramatically impact the other three key features of FASD. While consensus exists that alcohol is a teratogen, there is no clear consensus as to what level of exposure is toxic. The CDC guidelines are silent on these elements diagnostically. The IOM and Canadian guidelines explore this further, acknowledging the importance of significant alcohol exposure from regular or heavy episodic alcohol consumption in determining, but offer no standard for diagnosis. Canadian guidelines discuss this lack of clarity and parenthetically point out that "heavy alcohol use" is defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as five or more drinks per episode on five or more days during a 30-day period.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: "The 4-Digit Diagnostic Code" ranking system distinguishes between levels of prenatal alcohol exposure as "high risk" and "some risk". It operationalizes high risk exposure as a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) greater than 100 mg/dL delivered at least weekly in early pregnancy. This BAC level is typically reached by a 55 kg female drinking six to eight beers in one sitting.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: For many adopted or adults and children in foster care, records or other reliable sources may not be available for review. Reporting alcohol use during pregnancy can also be stigmatizing to birth mothers, especially if alcohol use is ongoing. In these cases, all diagnostic systems use an unknown prenatal alcohol exposure designation. A diagnosis of FAS is still possible with an unknown exposure level if other key features of FASD are present at clinical levels.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Confirmed absence of exposure would apply to planned pregnancies in which no alcohol was used or pregnancies of women who do not use alcohol or report no use during the pregnancy. This designation is relatively rare, as most people presenting for an FASD evaluation are at least "suspected" to have had a prenatal alcohol exposure due to presence of other key features of FASD.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Evidence is insufficient for the use of chemical biomarkers to detect prenatal alcohol exposure. Biomarkers being studied include fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) detected in the meconium (first feces of an infant) and hair. FAEE may be present if chronic alcohol exposure occurs during the 2nd and 3rd trimester since this is when the meconium begins to form. Concentrations of FAEE can be influence by medication use, diet, and individual genetic variations in FAEE metabolism however.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: A recent effort to standardize assessment of functional CNS damage has been suggested by an experienced FASD diagnostic team in Minnesota. The proposed framework attempts to harmonize IOM, 4-Digit Diagnostic Code, CDC, and Canadian guidelines for measuring CNS damage vis-à-vis FASD evaluations and diagnosis. The standardized approach is referred to as the Ten Brain Domains and encompasses aspects of all four diagnostic systems' recommendations for assessing CNS damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure. The framework provides clear definitions of brain dysfunction, specifies empirical data needed for accurate diagnosis, and defines intervention considerations that address the complex nature of FASD with the intention to avoid common secondary disabilities.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The Fetal Alcohol Diagnostic Program (FADP) uses unpublished Minnesota state criteria of performance at 1.5 or more standard deviations on standardized testing in three or more of the Ten Brain Domains to determine CNS damage. However, the Ten Brain Domains are easily incorporated into any of the four diagnostic systems' CNS damage criteria, as the framework only proposes the domains, rather than the cut-off criteria for FASD.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The CDC reviewed nine syndromes that have overlapping features with FAS; however, none of these syndromes include all three FAS facial features, and none are the result of prenatal alcohol exposure:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Other disorders that have overlapping behavioral symptoms and/or that might be comorbid to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder might include:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Most people with an FASD have most often been misdiagnosed with ADHD due to the large overlap between their behavioral deficits.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The only certain way to prevent FAS is to avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy. In the United States, the Surgeon General recommended in 1981, and again in 2005, that women abstain from alcohol use while pregnant or while planning a pregnancy, the latter to avoid damage even in the earliest stages (even weeks) of a pregnancy, as the woman may not be aware that she has conceived. The Centers for Disease Control and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also recommend no alcohol during pregnancy. In the United States, federal legislation has required that warning labels be placed on all alcoholic beverage containers since 1988 under the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: There is some controversy surrounding the "zero-tolerance" approach taken by many countries when it comes to alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The assertion that moderate drinking causes FAS is said to lack strong evidence and, in fact, the practice of equating a responsible level of drinking with potential harm to the fetus may have negative social, legal, and health impacts. In addition, special care should be taken when considering statistics on this disease, as prevalence and causation is often linked with FASD, which is more common and causes less harm, as opposed to FAS.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: There is no current cure for FASD, but treatment is possible. Early intervention from birth to age 3 has been shown to improve the development of a child born with FASD. Because CNS damage, symptoms, secondary disabilities, and needs vary widely by individual, there is no one treatment type that works for everyone.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Between 2017 and 2019 researchers made a breakthrough when they discovered a possible cure using neural stem cells (NSCs); they propose that if applied to a newborn, the damage can be reversed and prevent any lasting effects in the future.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Psychoactive drugs are frequently tried on those with FASD as many FASD symptoms are mistaken for or overlap with other disorders, most notably ADHD.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Behavioral interventions are based on the learning theory, which is the basis for many parenting and professional strategies and interventions. Along with ordinary parenting styles, such strategies are frequently used by default for treating those with FAS, as the diagnoses oppositional defiance disorder (ODD), conduct disorder, reactive attachment disorder (RAD) often overlap with FAS (along with ADHD), and these are sometimes thought to benefit from behavioral interventions. Frequently, a person's poor academic achievement results in special education services, which also utilizes principles of learning theory, behavior modification, and outcome-based education.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Many books and handouts on FAS recommend a developmental approach, based on developmental psychology, even though most do not specify it as such and provide little theoretical background. Optimal human development generally occurs in identifiable stages (e.g., Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, John Bowlby's attachment framework, and other developmental stage theories). FAS interferes with normal development, which may cause stages to be delayed, skipped, or immaturely developed. Over time, an unaffected child can negotiate the increasing demands of life by progressing through stages of development normally, but not so for a child with FAS.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: By knowing what developmental stages and tasks children follow, treatment and interventions for FAS can be tailored to helping a person meet developmental tasks and demands successfully. If a person is delayed in the adaptive behavior domain, for instance, then interventions would be recommended to target specific delays through additional education and practice (e.g., practiced instruction on tying shoelaces), giving reminders, or making accommodations (e.g., using slip-on shoes) to support the desired functioning level. This approach is an advance over behavioral interventions, because it takes the person's developmental context into account while developing interventions.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The advocacy model takes the point of view that someone is needed to actively mediate between the environment and the person with FAS. Advocacy activities are conducted by an advocate (for example, a family member, friend, or case manager) and fall into three basic categories. An advocate for FAS: (1) interprets FAS and the disabilities that arise from it and explains it to the environment in which the person operates, (2) engenders change or accommodation on behalf of the person, and (3) assists the person in developing and reaching attainable goals.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The advocacy model is often recommended, for example, when developing an individualized education program (IEP) for the person's progress at school.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: An understanding of the developmental framework would presumably inform and enhance the advocacy model, but advocacy also implies interventions at a systems level as well, such as educating schools, social workers, and so forth on best practices for FAS. However, several organizations devoted to FAS also use the advocacy model at a community practice level as well.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Treating FAS at the public health and public policy level promotes FAS prevention and diversion of public resources to assist those with FAS. It is related to the advocacy model but promoted at a systems level (rather than with the individual or family), such as developing community education and supports, state or province level prevention efforts (e.g., screening for maternal alcohol use during OB/GYN or prenatal medical care visits), or national awareness programs. Several organizations and state agencies in the U.S. are dedicated to this type of intervention.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The US Centers for Disease Control estimates 3 million women in the United States are at risk of having a baby with FASD, and recommended that women of child-bearing age should be on birth control or abstain from drinking alcohol as the safest way to avoid this.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The prognosis of FASD is variable depending on the type, severity, and if treatment is issued. Prognostic disabilities are divided into primary and secondary disabilities.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The primary disabilities of FAS are the functional difficulties with which the child is born as a result of CNS damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Often, primary disabilities are mistaken as "behavior problems", but the underlying CNS damage is the originating source of a functional difficulty, rather than a mental health condition, which is considered a secondary disability. The exact mechanisms for functional problems of primary disabilities are not always fully understood, but animal studies have begun to shed light on some correlates between functional problems and brain structures damaged by prenatal alcohol exposure. Representative examples include:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Functional difficulties may result from CNS damage in more than one domain, but common functional difficulties by domain include: Note that this is not an exhaustive list of difficulties.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The secondary disabilities of FAS are those that arise later in life secondary to CNS damage. These disabilities often emerge over time due to a mismatch between the primary disabilities and environmental expectations; secondary disabilities can be ameliorated with early interventions and appropriate supportive services.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Six main secondary disabilities were identified in a University of Washington research study of 473 subjects diagnosed with FAS, PFAS (partial fetal alcohol syndrome), and ARND (alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder):


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Eight factors were identified in the same study as universal protective factors that reduced the incidence rate of the secondary disabilities:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Malbin (2002) has identified the following areas of interests and talents as strengths that often stand out for those with FASD and should be utilized, like any strength, in treatment planning:


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: One study found that the people with FASD had a significantly shorter life expectancy. With the average life span of 34 years old, a study found that 44% of the deaths were of "external cause", with 15% of deaths being suicides.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: FASD is estimated to affect between 2% and 5% of people in the United States and Western Europe. FAS is believed to occur in between 0.2 and 9 per 1000 live births in the United States. The lifetime costs of an individual with FAS were estimated to be two million USD in 2002. Drinking any quantity during pregnancy, the risk of giving birth to a child with FASD is about 15%, and to a child with FAS about 1.5%. Drinking large quantities, defined as 2 standard drinks a day, or 6 standard drinks in a short time, carries a 4.3% risk of a FAS birth (i.e. one of every 23 heavy-drinking pregnant women will deliver a child with FAS). In a recent count the prevailence of having any FASD disorder was 1 person out of 20, but some people estimate it could be as high as 1 in 7.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: FASD among Australian youth is more common in indigenous Australians. The only states that have registered birth defects in Australian youth are Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. In Australia, only 12% of Australian health professionals are aware of the diagnostics and symptoms of FASD. In Western Australia, the rate of births resulting in FASD is 0.02 per 1,000 births for non-Indigenous Australians, however among indigenous births the rate is 2.76 per 1,000 births. In Victoria, there have been no registered FASD related births for indigenous Australians, but the rate for the general population in Victoria is 0.01–0.03 per 1000 births. There have been no dedicated FASD clinics within Western Australia, but there are also no nationally supported diagnostic criteria anywhere in Australia. Passive surveillance is a prevention technique used within Australia to assist in monitoring and establishing detectable defects during pregnancy and childhood.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: From the 1960s to the 1980s, alcohol was commonly used as a tocolytic, a method to stop preterm labor. The method originated with Dr. Fritz Fuchs, the chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University Medical College. Doctors recommended a small amount of alcohol to calm the uterus during contractions in early pregnancy or Braxton Hicks contractions. In later stages of pregnancy, the alcohol was administered intravenously and often in large amounts. "Women experienced similar effects as occur with oral ingestion, including intoxication, nausea and vomiting, and potential alcohol poisoning, followed by hangovers when the alcohol was discontinued." Vomiting put the mother at a high risk for aspiration and was "a brutal procedure for all involved". Because the alcohol was being given intravenously, the doctor could continue giving the treatment to the mother long after she had passed out, resulting in her being more intoxicated than would otherwise be possible. Such heavy intoxication is highly likely to contribute to FASD.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Admonitions against prenatal alcohol use from ancient Greek, Roman, Talmudic, and possibly Biblical sources indicate a historical awareness of links between alcohol use and fetal development, although sources rarely if ever distinguish maternal alcohol consumption from paternal. For example, Plato writes in his fourth-century B.C. "Laws" (6.775): "Drinking to excess is a practice that is nowhere seemly ... nor yet safe. ... It behooves both bride and bridegroom to be sober ... in order to ensure, as far as possible, in every case that the child that is begotten may be sprung from the loins of sober parents." Likewise, the sixth-century A.D. Talmud (Kethuboth 60b) cautions, "One who drinks intoxicating liquor will have ungainly children." In such ancient sources, the warnings against alcohol consumption for fetal development are more frequently concerned with conception than pregnancy.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: In 1725, British physicians petitioned the House of Commons on the effects of strong drink when consumed by pregnant women saying that such drinking is "too often the cause of weak, feeble, and distempered children, who must be, instead of an advantage and strength, a charge to their country". There are many other such historical references. In Gaelic Scotland, the mother and nurse were not allowed to consume ale during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Claims that alcohol consumption caused idiocy were also part of the Teetotalism movement's message in the 19th century, but such claims, despite some attempts to offer evidence, were ignored because no mechanism could be advanced.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: The earliest recorded observation of possible links between maternal alcohol use and fetal damage was made in 1899 by Dr. William Sullivan, a Liverpool prison physician who noted higher rates of stillbirth for 120 alcoholic female prisoners than their sober female relatives; he suggested the causal agent to be alcohol use. This contradicted the predominating belief at the time that heredity caused intellectual disability, poverty, and criminal behavior, which contemporary studies on the subjects usually concluded. A case study by Henry H. Goddard of the Kallikak family—popular in the early 1900s—represents this earlier perspective, though later researchers have suggested that the Kallikaks almost certainly had FAS. General studies and discussions on alcoholism throughout the mid-1900s were typically based on a heredity argument.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Prior to fetal alcohol syndrome being specifically identified and named in 1973, only a few studies had noted differences between the children of mothers who used alcohol during pregnancy or breast-feeding and those who did not, and identified alcohol use as a possible contributing factor rather than heredity.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Fetal alcohol syndrome was named in 1973 by two dysmorphologists, Drs. Kenneth Lyons Jones and David Weyhe Smith of the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle, United States. They identified a pattern of "craniofacial, limb, and cardiovascular defects associated with prenatal onset growth deficiency and developmental delay" in eight unrelated children of three ethnic groups, all born to mothers who were alcoholics. The pattern of malformations indicated that the damage was prenatal. News of the discovery shocked some, while others were skeptical of the findings.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Dr. Paul Lemoine of Nantes, France had already published a study in a French medical journal in 1968 about children with distinctive features whose mothers were alcoholics, and in the U.S., Christy Ulleland and colleagues at the University of Washington Medical School had conducted an 18-month study in 1968–1969 documenting the risk of maternal alcohol consumption among the offspring of 11 alcoholic mothers. The Washington and Nantes findings were confirmed by a research group in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1979. Researchers in France, Sweden, and the United States were struck by how similar these children looked, though they were not related, and how they behaved in the same unfocused and hyperactive manner.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Within nine years of the Washington discovery, animal studies, including non-human monkey studies carried out at the University of Washington Primate Center by Dr. Sterling Clarren, had confirmed that alcohol was a teratogen. By 1978, 245 cases of FAS had been reported by medical researchers, and the syndrome began to be described as the most frequent known cause of intellectual disability.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: While many syndromes are eponymous, i.e. named after the physician first reporting the association of symptoms, Smith named FAS after the causal agent of the symptoms. He reasoned that doing so would encourage prevention, believing that if people knew maternal alcohol consumption caused the syndrome, then abstinence during pregnancy would follow from patient education and public awareness. At the time, nobody was aware of the full range of possible birth defects from FAS or its rate of prevalence.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Over time, as subsequent research and clinical experience suggested that a range of effects (including physical, behavioral, and cognitive) could arise from prenatal alcohol exposure, the term Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) was developed to include FAS as well as other conditions resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure. Currently, FAS is the only expression of prenatal alcohol exposure defined by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems and assigned ICD-9 and diagnoses.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: In Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave New World" (where all fetuses are gestated in vitro in a factory), lower caste fetuses are created by receiving alcohol transfusions (Bokanovsky Process) to reduce intelligence and height, thus conditioning them for simple, menial tasks. Connections between alcohol and incubating embryos are made multiple times in the novel.


title: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

text: Tony Loneman, a character in Tommy Orange's novel "There There", was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which he calls "the Drome".


title: Golliwog

text: The golliwog, also spelled golliwogg or shortened to golly, is a doll-like character – created by cartoonist and author Florence Kate Upton – that appeared in children's books in the late 19th century, usually depicted as a type of rag doll. It was reproduced, both by commercial and hobby toy-makers, as a children's toy called the "golliwog", a portmanteau of "golly" and "polliwog", and had great popularity in the UK and Australia into the 1970s. The doll is characterised by jet black skin, eyes rimmed in white, exaggerated red lips and frizzy hair, a blackface minstrel tradition. Today the word is regarded as a racial slur towards black people.


title: Golliwog

text: Though home-made golliwogs were sometimes female, the golliwog was generally male. For this reason, in the period following World War II, the golliwog was seen as a suitable soft toy for a young boy, akin to a teddy bear or a sock monkey. Golliwogs were collected throughout the Caribbean Islands.


title: Golliwog

text: While some people see the doll as an innocuous toy associated with childhood, it is considered by others as a racist caricature of black Africans alongside pickaninnies, minstrels, and mammy figures. The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia described the golliwog as "the least known of the major anti-black caricatures in the United States". Changing political attitudes with regard to race have reduced the popularity and sales of golliwogs as toys. Manufacturers who have used golliwogs as a motif (e.g. Robertson's marmalade in the UK) have either withdrawn them as an icon or changed the name. In particular, the use of alternative names such as "golly" and "golly doll" has risen due to association with the pejorative term "wog", which many dictionaries say probably derived from the golliwog.


title: Golliwog

text: Florence Kate Upton was born in 1873 in Flushing, New York, United States, the daughter of English parents who had emigrated to the United States three years previously. Following the death of her father, she moved back to England with her mother and sisters when she was fourteen. There she spent several years drawing and developing her artistic skills. To afford tuition to art school, she illustrated a children's book entitled "The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg." The 1895 book included a character named the Golliwogg, who was first described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome", but who quickly turned out to be a friendly character, and is later attributed with a "kind face." A product of the blackface minstrel tradition, the Golliwogg had jet black skin; bright red lips; and wild woolly hair. He wore red trousers, a shirt with a stiff collar, red bow-tie, and a blue jacket with tails – all traditional minstrel attire.


title: Golliwog

text: Upton's book and its many sequels were extremely successful in England, largely because of the popularity of the Golliwogg. Upton did not trademark her character, and its name, spelt "golliwog", became the generic name for dolls and images of a similar type. Upton's Golliwogg was jovial, friendly and gallant, but some later golliwogs were sinister or menacing characters. For instance, a number of Enid Blyton's Noddy and Big Ears books feature Golliwog, sometimes as heroes but often as a villain or as naughty individuals. Other authors took a similar tack. The name "golliwog" came to be used as a degrading term for anyone who was not white-skinned, and new origins were suggested for the word. Florence Upton despaired, 'I am frightened when I read the fearsome etymology some deep, dark minds can see in his name.'


title: Golliwog

text: The golliwog doll became a popular children's toy throughout most of the 20th century, and was incorporated into many aspects of British commerce and culture.


title: Golliwog

text: In the USA it became popular in the form of children's literature, dolls, children's china and other toys, ladies' perfume, and jewellery.


title: Golliwog

text: "Golliwogg's Cakewalk" is the sixth and final piece in the "Children's Corner", a suite for piano published by French composer Claude Debussy in 1908.


title: Golliwog

text: British jam manufacturer James Robertson & Sons used a golliwog called Golly as its mascot from 1910, after John Robertson apparently saw children playing with golliwog dolls in the United States. Robertson's started producing promotional Golly badges in the 1920s, which could be obtained in exchange for tokens gained from their products. By the 1950s the firm had incorporated the figure into the advertising campaign for its jams with the slogan "Golly! They're Good." In 1983, the company's products were boycotted by Ken Livingstone's Greater London Council as offensive, and in 1988 the character ceased to be used in television advertising. The company used to give away golliwog badges and small plaster figures playing musical instruments (jazz musicians) or sports and other such themes. The Gollywog badge collection scheme was withdrawn in 2001.


title: Golliwog

text: Virginia (Ginny) C. Knox, previously brand director for Robertson's and later Chief Operating Officer of the Culinary Brands Division of RHM, told "The Herald" newspaper in Scotland in 2001 that the decision to remove the Golly symbol from Robertson's jam and marmalade jars was taken after research found that children were not familiar with the character, although it still appealed to the older generations. "We sell 45 million jars of jam and marmalade each year and they have pretty much all got Golly on them," said Ms Knox. "We also sell 250,000 Golly badges to collectors and only get 10 letters a year from people who don't like the Golliwog image." Today, Robertson's Golly badges remain highly collectible, with the very rarest sometimes selling for more than £1,000.


title: Golliwog

text: According to an editorial in "The Times" newspaper, golliwogs were banned by the Nazis in 1934 on the grounds they were inappropriate toys for young German children, "for of all non-Aryans none is more completely non-Aryan than he [Golliwog]... Some say he is so attractive an advertisement for a black face that his presence makes it harder to teach the young to wash."


title: Golliwog

text: An aniseed-flavoured chewy confection called a Blackjack was marketed in the United Kingdom from the 1920s with a golliwog's face on the wrapper. In the late 1980s, Trebor, the manufacturer, replaced the image with the face of a black-bearded pirate.


title: Golliwog

text: A classic contortionist act is the rag doll act often performed in a golliwog costume, therefore also called the golliwogg act.


title: Golliwog

text: In "" and "", Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill included Upton's original Golliwog with a slightly reimagined, alien past. When this was attacked as a racist character, Moore responded that the Upton's original Golliwog "was a dignified and respectable figure. His courage and strength of character were ably demonstrated in his picaresque adventures, as was his intellectual acumen."


title: Golliwog

text: In March 2007, Greater Manchester Police seized two golliwogs from a shop after a complaint that the dolls were offensive. In September 2008, a woman from Stockport claimed she was arrested for keeping a "golly doll" in her window. Greater Manchester Police denied this and said she was arrested after a series of complaints of alleged racially aggravated behaviour were made against her.


title: Golliwog

text: In February 2009, in an off-air conversation at the BBC, Carol Thatcher, the daughter of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, referred to the black French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was competing in the Australian Open, as looking like a golliwog. The comment was considered by the BBC as "wholly unacceptable" and Thatcher was informed that unless she apologised she would no longer be a reporter on BBC's "The One Show". Thatcher stated that it was a silly joke and declined to make an "unconditional apology". Thatcher said that her comment was a reference to the golliwog motifs that she saw in her childhood on jars of jam (made by Robertson's). In April 2009 she appeared on the BBC in an interview on "The Andrew Marr Show", defending her use of the word. The French publication "Sportsweek" claimed that Thatcher, in talking about a previous competition, referred to another player as "the one who was defeated by the "golliwog" in the previous tour." The French publication, which showed a picture of Tsonga above a picture of a toy golliwog, claimed that Thatcher was "mortified" and that her comment was about the similarity of Tsonga's appearance to the doll that she had as a child.


title: Golliwog

text: In March 2011, Conservative English politician Bill Etheridge and his wife, Star, resigned from the Conservatives after their membership was suspended following complaints from party members that they were photographed posing with knitted golliwogs on their Facebook profile pages as part of a protest against political correctness.


title: Golliwog

text: In December 2013, a councillor in Brighton was forced to apologise for stating to a newspaper reporter that golliwogs were not racist. Councillor Dawn Barnett was defending a local shop which was selling golliwog drinks mats. She stated, "I said I can see no harm in them. They are nostalgic, I'm 72 years old. My generation grew up with them." Bert Williams, speaking on behalf of Brighton and Hove Black History Group, said the word "golliwog" was historically used to tease black people, of which he had personal experience.


title: Golliwog

text: In April 2018, a man was fined £250 plus £85 costs for displaying a golliwog in a window opposite two Indian restaurants. He pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated public order offence."


title: Golliwog

text: In July 2018, a YouGov poll asked 1,660 Britons whether it was "racist to sell or display a golliwog doll", to which a 63% responded "No", 20% "Yes", and 17% "I'm Not Sure".


title: Golliwog

text: On 1 December 2016, Australian Aboriginal activist, author and filmmaker Stephen Hagan caused a national controversy when he labelled Toowoomba the "most racist city in Australia" after a display of nine golliwog dolls were placed by Terry White Chemists underneath a sign inviting shoppers to "Experience a White Christmas". The controversy began when Toowoomba man George Helon spotted the dolls placed beneath the sign and circulated a picture of it on Facebook and Twitter. The display was only in one store, as a franchisee can "stock and sell products at their discretion", however Terry White Chemists banned the sale of the doll in any franchise afterwards.


title: Golliwog

text: On 22 March 2021, the Gollyville quilt of a Whakatāne artist Barbara Key was removed from the Art House's Carving Symposium and Art Exhibition due to a visitor finding the quilt to be offensive.


title: Henry Miller

text: Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism. His most characteristic works of this kind are "Tropic of Cancer", "Black Spring", "Tropic of Capricorn", and the trilogy "The Rosy Crucifixion", which are based on his experiences in New York and Paris (all of which were banned in the United States until 1961). He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and painted watercolors.


title: Henry Miller

text: Miller was born at his family's home, 450 East 85th Street, in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, New York City. He was the son of Lutheran German parents, Louise Marie (Neiting) and tailor Heinrich Miller. As a child, he lived for nine years at 662 Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, known at that time (and referred to frequently in his works) as the Fourteenth Ward. In 1900, his family moved to 1063 Decatur Street in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. After finishing elementary school, although his family remained in Bushwick, Miller attended Eastern District High School in Williamsburg. As a young man, he was active with the Socialist Party of America (his "quondam idol" was the black Socialist Hubert Harrison). He attended the City College of New York for one semester.


title: Henry Miller

text: Miller married his first wife, Beatrice Sylvas Wickens, in 1917; their divorce was granted on December 21, 1923. Together they had a daughter, Barbara, born in 1919. They lived in an apartment at 244 6th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. At the time, Miller was working at Western Union; he worked there from 1920 to 1924, as personnel manager in the messenger department. In March 1922, during a three-week vacation, he wrote his first novel, "Clipped Wings". It has never been published, and only fragments remain, although parts of it were recycled in other works, such as "Tropic of Capricorn". A study of twelve Western Union messengers, "Clipped Wings" was characterized by Miller as "a long book and probably a very bad one."


title: Henry Miller

text: In 1923, while he was still married to Beatrice, Miller met and became enamored of a mysterious dance-hall ingénue who was born Juliet Edith Smerth but went by the stage-name June Mansfield. She was 21 at the time. They began an affair, and were married on June 1, 1924. In 1924 Miller quit Western Union in order to dedicate himself completely to writing. Miller later describes this time – his struggles to become a writer, his sexual escapades, his failures, his friends, his philosophy – in his autobiographical trilogy "The Rosy Crucifixion".


title: Henry Miller

text: Miller's second novel, "", was written in 1927–28, initially under the guise of a novel written by his wife Juliet (June). A rich older admirer of June, Roland Freedman, paid her to write the novel; she would show him pages of Miller's work each week, pretending it was hers. The book went unpublished until 1992, 65 years after it was written and 12 years after Miller's death. "Moloch" is based on Miller's first marriage, to Beatrice, and his years working as a personnel manager at the Western Union office in Lower Manhattan. A third novel written around this time, "Crazy Cock", also went unpublished until after Miller's death. Initially titled "Lovely Lesbians", "Crazy Cock" (along with his later novel "Nexus") told the story of June's close relationship with the artist Marion, whom June had renamed Jean Kronski. Kronski lived with Miller and June from 1926 until 1927, when June and Kronski went to Paris together, leaving Miller behind, which upset him greatly. Miller suspected the pair of having a lesbian relationship. While in Paris, June and Kronski did not get along, and June returned to Miller several months later. Kronski committed suicide around 1930.


title: Henry Miller

text: In 1928, Miller spent several months in Paris with June, a trip which was financed by Freedman. One day on a Paris street, Miller met another author, Robert W. Service, who recalled the story in his autobiography: "Soon we got into conversation which turned to books. For a stripling he spoke with some authority, turning into ridicule the pretentious scribes of the Latin Quarter and their freak magazine." In 1930, Miller moved to Paris unaccompanied. Soon after, he began work on "Tropic of Cancer", writing to a friend, "I start tomorrow on the Paris book: First person, uncensored, formless – fuck everything!" Although Miller had little or no money the first year in Paris, things began to change after meeting Anaïs Nin who, with Hugh Guiler, went on to pay his entire way through the 1930s including the rent for an apartment at 18 Villa Seurat. Nin became his lover and financed the first printing of "Tropic of Cancer" in 1934 with money from Otto Rank. She would write extensively in her journals about her relationship with Miller and his wife June; the first volume, covering the years 1931–34, was published in 1966. Late in 1934, June divorced Miller by proxy in Mexico City.


title: Henry Miller

text: In 1931, Miller was employed by the "Chicago Tribune" Paris edition as a proofreader, thanks to his friend Alfred Perlès, who worked there. Miller took this opportunity to submit some of his own articles under Perlès' name, since at that time only the editorial staff were permitted to publish in the paper. This period in Paris was highly creative for Miller, and during this time he also established a significant and influential network of authors circulating around the Villa Seurat. At that time a young British author, Lawrence Durrell, became a lifelong friend. Miller's correspondence with Durrell was later published in two books. During his Paris period he was also influenced by the French Surrealists.


title: Henry Miller

text: His works contain detailed accounts of sexual experiences. His first published book, "Tropic of Cancer" (1934), was published by Obelisk Press in Paris and banned in the United States on the grounds of obscenity. The dust jacket came wrapped with a warning: "Not to be imported into the United States or Great Britain." He continued to write novels that were banned; along with "Tropic of Cancer", his "Black Spring" (1936) and "Tropic of Capricorn" (1939) were smuggled into his native country, building Miller an underground reputation. While the aforementioned novels remained banned in the US for over two decades, in 1939, New Directions published "The Cosmological Eye", Miller's first book to be published in America. The collection contained short prose pieces, most of which originally appeared in "Black Spring" and "Max and the White Phagocytes" (1938).


title: Henry Miller

text: Miller became fluent in French during his ten-year stay in Paris and lived in France until June 1939. During the late 1930s Miller also learned about German-born sailor George Dibbern, helped to promote his memoire "Quest" and organized charity to help him.


title: Henry Miller

text: In 1939 Lawrence Durrell, British novelist who was living in Corfu, Greece, invited Miller to Greece. Miller described the visit in "The Colossus of Maroussi" (1941), which he considered his best book. One of the first acknowledgments of Henry Miller as a major modern writer was by George Orwell in his 1940 essay "Inside the Whale", where he wrote:


title: Henry Miller

text: Here in my opinion is the only imaginative prose-writer of the slightest value who has appeared among the English-speaking races for some years past. Even if that is objected to as an overstatement, it will probably be admitted that Miller is a writer out of the ordinary, worth more than a single glance; and after all, he is a completely negative, unconstructive, amoral writer, a mere Jonah, a passive acceptor of evil, a sort of Whitman among the corpses.


title: Henry Miller

text: In 1940, Miller returned to New York; after a year-long trip around the United States, a journey that would become material for "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare", he moved to California in June 1942, initially residing just outside Hollywood in Beverly Glen, before settling in Big Sur in 1944. While Miller was establishing his base in Big Sur, the "Tropic" books, then still banned in the US, were being published in France by the Obelisk Press and later the Olympia Press. There they were acquiring a slow and steady notoriety among both Europeans and the various enclaves of American cultural exiles. As a result, the books were frequently smuggled into the States, where they proved to be a major influence on the new Beat Generation of American writers, most notably Jack Kerouac, the only Beat writer Miller truly cared for. By the time his banned books were published in the 1960s and he was becoming increasingly well-known, Miller was no longer interested in his image as an outlaw writer of smut-filled books; however, he eventually gave up fighting the image.


title: Henry Miller

text: In 1942, shortly before moving to California, Miller began writing "Sexus", the first novel in "The Rosy Crucifixion" trilogy, a fictionalized account documenting the six-year period of his life in Brooklyn falling in love with June and struggling to become a writer. Like several of his other works, the trilogy, completed in 1959, was initially banned in the United States, published only in France and Japan.


title: Henry Miller

text: Miller lived in a small house on Partington Ridge from 1944 to 1947, along with other bohemian writers like Harry Partch, Emil White, and Jean Varda. While living there, he wrote "Into the Nightlife". He writes about his fellow artists who lived at Anderson Creek as the Anderson Creek Gang in "Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch". Miller paid $5 per month rent for his shack on the property.


title: Henry Miller

text: In other works written during his time in California, Miller was widely critical of consumerism in America, as reflected in "Sunday After the War" (1944) and "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" (1945). His "Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch", published in 1957, is a collection of stories about his life and friends in Big Sur.


title: Henry Miller

text: In 1944, Miller met and married his third wife, Janina Martha Lepska, a philosophy student who was 30 years his junior. They had two children: a son, Tony, and a daughter, Valentine. They divorced in 1952. The following year, he married artist Eve McClure, who was 37 years his junior. They divorced in 1960, and she died in 1966, likely as a result of alcoholism. In 1961, Miller arranged a reunion in New York with his ex-wife and main subject of "The Rosy Crucifixion" trilogy, June. They had not seen each other in nearly three decades. In a letter to Eve, he described his shock at June's "terrible" appearance, as she had by then degenerated both physically and mentally.