It goes without saying that the state of reproductive rights in the U.S. is increasingly dire. Scathing and vital, Sarah Ruden’s REPRODUCTIVE WRONGS unearths the literary evolution of a right–wing radicalism that has delivered us to this moment, when half of the US population is losing access to basic human rights.

The dangerous belief that granting women reproductive freedom poses a threat to “traditional” values is a myth that has long prospered in American politics, playing an especially vicious role in the development of totalitarianism in the West. In REPRODUCTIVE WRONGS, acclaimed translator and cultural historian Ruden exposes how these oppressive myths took hold in our everyday lives through literature. Tearing through texts from Ovid to evangelical “abortion memoirs” with equal parts humor and searing focus, Ruden traces a sweeping history through her analysis of seven works that, she argues, marked key inflection points across two thousand years.

In making sense of this evolution of “reproductive wrongs”, we become better equipped to meet our current situation—or as Ruden so eloquently put it to me: "to sketch this whole circus can show women of today that they should not take seriously anything said against their freedom: we have been here before, we got through it, and we will again."

Advance praise for REPRODUCTIVE WRONGS:

“Expansive . . . the book’s greatest strength lies in Ruden’s wry criticism . . . a biting, revelatory overview of misogyny’s long literary history.”

—Publishers Weekly starred review 

“Vivid . . . Ruden successfully advocates for a world governed by saner reproductive health policies . . . A timeless treatise.”

—Kirkus Reviews 

“Well-researched . . . A fresh take on the long history of suppressing women’s reproductive freedoms.”

—Booklist