Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution
Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution | Jonathan Eig
We know it simply as "the pill," yet its genesis was anything but simple. Jonathan Eig's masterful narrative revolves around four principal characters: the fiery feminist Margaret Sanger, who was a champion of birth control in her campaign for the rights of women but neglected her own children in pursuit of free love; the beautiful Katharine McCormick, who owed her fortune to her wealthy husband, the son of the founder of International Harvester and a schizophrenic; the visionary scientist Gregory Pincus, who was dismissed by Harvard in the 1930s as a result of his experimentation with in vitro fertilization but who, after he was approached by Sanger and McCormick, grew obsessed with the idea of inventing a drug that could stop ovulation; and the telegenic John Rock, a Catholic doctor from Boston who battled his own church to become an enormously effective advocate in the effort to win public approval for the drug that would be marketed by Searle as Enovid.Spanning the years from Sanger s heady Greenwich Village days in the early twentieth century to trial tests in Puerto Rico in the 1950s to the cusp of the sexual revolution in the 1960s, this is a grand story of radical feminist politics, scientific ingenuity, establishment opposition, and, ultimately, a sea change in social attitudes. Brilliantly researched and briskly written, The Birth of the Pill is gripping social, cultural, and scientific history."
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
SwedePea
post image

Thank you to @Addison1 for the successful book swap! I was excited to get it and I'm excited to read it! #bookswap #thebirthofthepill #sex #womensrights #feminism #womenshistory

BookNAround Yep. I‘m here. Hopefully this makes it easier for you to contact me. 😉 6y
SwedePea @BookNAround Oh good! :D 6y
11 likes1 stack add3 comments
blurb
Addison1
post image

This good read is headed on a journey this week! Excited for a book swap with @SwedePea ! My first via mail. 💚😄📚

SwedePea Yay! So fun! 6y
8 likes1 comment
review
Addison1
post image
Pickpick

A sweet find from half-priced books that I bought on an impulse. Was well worth it! A compelling read. Written almost too neutrally at times. I can tell the author was trying to avoid running into tangents. But still always compelling with manageable chapters.

7 likes1 stack add
quote
Addison1
post image

A successful man or woman is one who ‘toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing, onward through life...goes‘ with a clear conscience and a big heart.‘

3 likes1 stack add
review
mklong
post image
Mehso-so

A fascinating history of the development of oral contraception. While fascinating, it is a deeply troubling history. Early advocates included eugenicists with vile intent, many of the trial participants were either unwilling or misled about the purpose and potential side effects of the drug, and on and on. Only a so-so rating because the narrative is maddeningly repetitive.

50 likes1 stack add
review
Kathrin
post image
Pickpick

I am booking this one under the slogan: "The more you know!" and am glad that I received some education. One the other hand it was disheartening to realize, that we are still discussing similar topics to this day. I just wished that there was a true separation of state and church and that elected official's religious beliefs wouldn't impact the lives of women the way they do.

Notafraidofwords Preach 👏👏👏👏👏 7y
20 likes3 stack adds1 comment
review
lyssamez
post image
Pickpick

Really fascinating look at the four rebellious personalities behind the making of the birth control pill. I highly recommend it.

11 likes1 stack add
quote
lyssamez
post image

Headlines getting science wrong goes back decades upon decades. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

blurb
lyssamez
post image

Digging into my next read. I've been looking forward to this one.

review
TelevisionNeighbor
post image
Pickpick
LisaJo Good as Gone. I really enjoyed that book. Enjoyed the way the author told the story. Should have included it in my yellow covers two. 7y
7 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
CaroPi
post image

A bit late but... #aprilbookshowers #day2 2nd #subtitles I found the story of the pill fascinating... Is a huge step in women revolution

blurb
Brie
post image

#aprilbookshowers I find nonfiction books the most #thoughtprovoking, ranging from immunization, birth control, the funeral industry, American history, minimum wage, and the fast food industry, among others.

shelf-improvement Loved Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. She had a new book out this fall 8y
shelf-improvement That should be has. It's not out yet. Why can't you edit comments? 8y
Brie @shelf-improvement I didn't know she has a new one coming out. Thanks for letting me know, I'll add it to my ever growing TBR. 8y
Augustdana Fast food nation is one of my favs 8y
66 likes1 stack add4 comments
blurb
LitDrivenGirl
post image

#LibraryLoot ? When you don't want to ask the grouchy old man librarian for help locating the sexuality section googling 'Dewey Decimal system books about sex' works great! I didn't find what I really wanted (Emily Nagoski's "Come as You Are"), but this is a start. In case you are wondering, it's 306.7...though "Birth of the Pill" was in the 618s ??. #tbrpile #letstalkaboutsex #nonfiction #Saturdays

9 likes1 stack add
blurb
rjsthumbelina
post image

Whoa. All kinds of fun facts in this book!

blurb
rjsthumbelina
post image

Wait...what!?!

review
Ekkross
Pickpick

I could not have asked for a better telling of such a vital part of history. Eig does the key players justice and represents them as whole humans with flaws, drive, blind spots, and moments of brilliance.
It makes me feel grateful to Sanger and her counterparts, even in their misguided moments for their ceaseless drive towards a better future for women.

2 likes1 stack add
quote
Ekkross

"In 1958, seventeen states still had laws banning the sale, distribution, or advertisement of contraception... but gradually, one state at a time, the laws were being overturned."

blurb
Ekkross
post image

A warrior indeed

blurb
Apinlibraryland
post image

End of the year #bookhaul for 2 book clubs!

quote
Ekkross

I was told by someone...'They respect you but they are afraid of you.'
A letter from Dr. Edits Rice-Wray to Dr. Gregory Pincus

quote
Ekkross
post image

The world stood by to hear the details of the pill, which Sanger referred to in one statement as "the miracle tablet maybe"

blurb
Ekkross
post image

No subtitle has ever grabbed my attention more

3 likes2 stack adds
blurb
CaroPi
post image

#Day12 #longtitle #booktober #womenissues #feminism I think these is the longest title I have... Hopefully I will read it soon. Is in my TBR for a very long time.....

heatherspoetlife Its amazing! I had no idea how privileged I was to live in a world with good birth control. It cured me of the 'I wished I lived back when-' ideations. 8y
CaroPi @StoredFeminism totally agree! Books like this or the history of women's rights help us to understand that we are in better times and we have more control over our bodies... 8y
12 likes2 stack adds2 comments
blurb
lilycobalt
post image

This was my #firsteverlitsypost, with a book that continues to be meaningful in today's political climate. It's fun doing books with you! #booktober

blurb
Katherinelizabethsmith
post image

Roomie lent me this. It's beautiful! Thanks, @alholstrom ! Also trying to read 15 other amazing books at the same time. So. Fuck. Can I say fuck on Litsy?

alholstrom 🤗 8y
2 likes1 comment
quote
dairine
post image

"Religion is a very poor scientist." Dr. Rock

6 likes1 stack add
blurb
dairine
post image

BOOKMARK UPDATE: I've been dying to read this ever since NOR re-aired Eig's interview on Fresh Air. The bookmark is self-explanatory (Knock Knock sells them in a pad of 20ish.) Eig was a highly engaging interview. I don't read much NF, but I go big when I do.

dairine *NPR. SIGH 8y
4 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
lilycobalt
post image
Pickpick

Quick read about the birth control pill, the people who made it possible, and its effects. Most compelling aspect is the examination of how it materially improved the lives of women.

review
DyAnne
post image
Pickpick

Fascinating history of the invention that allowed me and so many others to live the lives we wanted.

blurb
lilycobalt
post image

Currently reading: The Birth of the Pill, by Jonathan Eig. I'm interested in how the politics and the science will clash.

blurb
DyAnne

Read this. May we never go back.