In 1960, the FDA approved the contraceptive commonly known as the pill. Advocates, developers, and manufacturers believed that the convenient new drug would put an end to unwanted pregnancy, ensure happy marriages, and even eradicate poverty. But as renowned historian Elaine Tyler May reveals inAmerica and the Pill, it was women who embraced it and created change. They used the pill to challenge the authority of doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and lawmakers. They demonstrated that the pill was about much more than family planning-it offered women control over their bodies and their lives. From little-known accounts of the early years to personal testimonies from young women today, May illuminates what the pill did and didnotachieve during its half century on the market.
Elaine Tyler Mayis Regents Professor in the Departments of American Studies and History at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of several books, including
Homeward Boundand
Barren in the Promised Land. She has contributed to
Ms., the
Los Angeles Times, the
New York Times, and more. She was the 2009-2010 President of the Organization of American Historians. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Pill kicked off a revolutionin assumptions about sex and its consequences. Elaine Tyler May's adept,succinct book makes it clear that the appearance of worry-free contraceptionimmediately concretized the idea that choices about reproduction should be leftto the individuals involved.
New Republic May writes that the pill profoundly benefited married women....It's in such small but seismic shifts, this slender but important book remindsus, that history is made.
Boston Globe May skillfully shows how women fought for access to thepill, as well as for a safer pill against some pretty big contenders,pharmaceutical companies and the Catholic Church among them.
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