Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and Law from America's Origins to the Twenty-First Century

Written by Geoffrey R. Stone

Narrated by William Dufris

Renowned constitutional scholar Geoffrey R. Stone traces the evolution of legal and moral codes that have attempted to legislate sexual behavior from the ancient world to America's earliest days to today's fractious political climate. Stone crafts a remarkable, even thrilling narrative in which he shows how agitators, moralists, legislators, and especially the justices of the Supreme Court have historically navigated issues as explosive and divisive as abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and contraception. Overturning a raft of contemporary shibboleths, Stone reveals that at the time the Constitution was adopted there were no laws against obscenity and no laws against abortion before the midpoint of pregnancy. A pageant of historical characters?including Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Anthony Comstock, Margaret Sanger, J. Edgar Hoover, Phyllis Schlafly, and Justice Anthony Kennedy?enlivens this landmark work, which dramatically reveals how our laws about sex, religion, and morality reflect the paradoxes and cultural schisms that have cleaved our nation from its founding.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Mar 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781681684482

Reviews for Sex and the Constitution

[glennbell_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a well written and thorough examination of the evolution of laws in the United States regarding obscenity, abortion, and same sex. The author is knowledgeable and provides understandable explanations for judicial decisions. The historical perspective is provided and the key personnel involved are described in appropriate detail. I found this book interesting and educational. I strongly recommend this book.