This is a big, bold book with an enormous scope: almost two centuries of sex, birth control and heterosexual relations. It is an ambitious project, but Hera Cook has produced an intriguing mix of broad survey and close, detailed analysis. The basic premise of The Long Sexual Revolution is that sex and reproduction were intertwined. ln many histories, sexuality and reproduction are discussed as if the two were unrelated, but Cook indicates the ways that contraception and control over reproduction were crucial to both sexual pleasure and sexual change.

Cook explores many fascinating ideas about birth control, not least the methods. She covers the usual: abstinence, withdrawal, condoms and so on. She also explores some of the more desperate measures: pessaries made from lard and flour; coughing after sex to expel the sperm; refraining from female orgasm to prevent conception. Some of this is familiar, but the conclusions are not. Most important is her assertion that women did not immediately embrace birth control options. Given our contemporary equations of contraception with freedom for women, it might seem surprising that women were not more enthusiastic advocates and users of birth control. Numerous historians have suggested that first wave feminists rejected contraception because they believed continence and self-control were the better options, and Cook indicates the prevalence of this thought beyond educated feminists. If, in the early nineteenth century, it was believed women had strong sexual urges, a century later it was clear that many repudiated sex and desire. For many women, pleasure was less important than safety: as Cook suggests, sex for women involved ‘high risks and little reward’. This is an important and enduring theme throughout the work.