When researching a new topic, it's often important to start by gaining an overview, understanding unfamiliar terms, obtaining brief factual information, and testing your own assumptions. The resources listed below offer background and context for studying the history of sexuality.
Key Sources
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., and Mathew Kuefler, eds. The Cambridge World History of Sexualities. Volume I, General Overview. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., and Mathew Kuefler, eds. The Cambridge World History of Sexualities. Volume II, Systems of Thought and Belief. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., and Mathew Kuefler, eds. The Cambridge World History of Sexualities. Volume III, Sites of Knowledge and Practice. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., and Mathew Kuefler, eds. The Cambridge World History of Sexualities. Volume IV, Modern Sexualities. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2024
Chiang, Howard, and Anjali R. Arondekar, eds. Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2019.
Other Sources
Clark, Anna. Desire: A History of European Sexuality. 2nd edition. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2019.
D’Emilio, John, and Estelle B. Freedman. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America. 3rd edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012.
LaFleur, Greta. The Natural History of Sexuality in Early America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018.
Malti-Douglas, Fedwa. Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007.
Meade, Teresa A., and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks. A Companion to Global Gender History. 2nd ed. Newark: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2020.
Timm, Annette F., and Joshua A. Sanborn. Gender, Sex and the Shaping of Modern Europe: A History from the French Revolution to the Present Day. 2nd edition. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
Toulalan, Sarah, and Kate Fisher, eds. The Routledge History of Sex and the Body: 1500 to the Present. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013.
