Join Celia Bookshop in celebrating Swarthmore historian Rebecca L. Davis and her richly textured, fascinating, and timely book, Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America.

Presented by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County and Delco Dudes. Free and open to the public!

📅 Tuesday, March 18 at 7 PM
📍 UU Church of Delaware County
145 W. Rose Tree Road, Media

From public floggings of fornicators in early New England to passionate same-sex love affairs in the 1800s, the crackdown on abortion providers in the 1870s, and today’s debates over gender-affirming care, Davis offers a sweeping four-century history of America’s sexual past. Drawing from sources like legal records, erotica, and romance novels, she reexamines key events like Anthony Comstock’s crusade against smut and uncovers stories of lesser-known pioneers, including colonial servant Thomas/Thomasine Hall, Gay Liberation Front cofounder Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and postwar female pleasure activist Betty Dodson.

✨ One of the New Yorker's Best Books of 2024
✨ A Washington Post Notable Book of 2024

Buy the book from Celia Bookshop on-site after the event, or pre-order it here.

We can’t wait to see you on March 18!