Sex and the Founding Fathers

The American Quest for a Relatable Past

Thomas A. Foster
Book Cover

PB: $23.95
EAN: 978-1-4399-1103-7
Publication: Oct 16

HC: $28.50
EAN: 978-1-4399-1102-0
Publication: Jan 14

Ebook: $28.50
EAN: 978-1-4399-1104-4
Publication:

232 pages
6 x 9
15 halftones

Reviews

"Sex and the Founding Fathers has value as a source of data.... (which) raises important questions about gender, sexuality, and masculinity as normative and actual behaviors shift that over time as they structure personal and national identities." —American Studies

"Foster tells us that each new generation has inquired into the intimate lives of great men and found reflections of its own habits and desires and anxieties....Using the methods of intellectual and cultural history, Foster examines contemporary and scholarly interpretations of the sex lives of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Gouvernor Morris. Foster holds that we read and write about our Founding Fathers’ intimate habits because we want these icons of masculinity to be relatable. Foster is right; we do seek ourselves in our histories." —Journal of American History

Subjects

History Sexuality Studies/Sexual Identity History

In the Series

  • Sexuality Studies edited by Janice M. Irvine and Regina G. Kunzel

    Sexuality Studies, edited by Janice Irvine and Regina Kunzel, features work in sexuality studies broadly construed, in its social, cultural, and political dimensions, and in both historical and contemporary formations. The series includes titles located within disciplinary and interdisciplinary frames that combine theoretical methodologies with empirical research.