With an updated introduction, the revolutionary book that changed our understanding of the history of gender in America is now back in print. Controversial and considered ahead of its time, The Horrors of the Half-Known Life is a startling portrait of male attitudes toward masculinity, women, and sexuality in nineteenth-century America. Through an examination of the elimination of midwivery, the origins of gynecology--a horrifying history--and general attitudes and advice about sexuality, Barker-Benfield brilliantly illuminates the state of manhood and misogyny in nineteenth-century America.

Now a classic in the field, The Horrors of the Half-Known Life is an important foundational text in the construction of masculinity, female identity, and the history of midwivery.