Is Sex Necessary? or Why You Feel the Way You Do

Authors

James Thurber
E. B. White

Files

Description

Contents: The Nature of the American Male : A Study of Pedestalism • How to Tell Love From Passion • A Discussion of Feminine Types • The Sexual Revolution : Being a Rather Complete Survey of the Entire Sexual Scene • The Lilies-and-Bluebird Delusion • What Should Children Tell Parents? • Claustrophobia, or What Every Young Wife Should Know • Frigidity in Men • Answers to Hard Questions • Glossary

The year was 1929, the height of the Roaring Twenties and the eve of the Crash and Great Depression. A “Sexual Revolution” was in progress, and two writers from The New Yorker published this guide for the perplexed. The book launched two impressive publishing careers and helped establish its authors as paragons of 20th-century American letters. With 55 illustrations.

James Thurber (1894–1961) was a journalist, writer, cartoonist, and longtime editor and contributor to The New Yorker. His later works included My Life and Hard Times (1933), The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935), The Male Animal (1940), Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated (1940), My World—And Welcome to It, (1942), and The Years with Ross (1959).

E. B. White (1899–1985) was a poet, author, essayist, stylist, and longtime editor of The New Yorker. His later works included Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte’s Web (1952), and—with William Strunk, Jr.—The Elements of Style (1959).

“One of the silliest books in years, and perfectly lovely.” — Saturday Review of Literature

“One grand and glorious assortment of literary whoopee.” — R. James, Brooklyn Eagle

“There are lovely drawings which sometimes illustrate the text and sometimes don’t.” —Isabel Patterson, New York Herald Tribune

ISBN

978-1-60962-344-9 ebook

Publication Date

2025

Publisher

Zea Books

City

Lincoln, Nebraska

Keywords

humor, sexual revolution, frigidity, psychology

Disciplines

American Literature | American Popular Culture | Human Factors Psychology

Comments

Copyright, 1929, by Harper & Brothers; entered public domain 2025.

This is a reset pocket-size edition of the 1929 book.

Recommended Citation

Thurber, James and White, E. B., "Is Sex Necessary? or Why You Feel the Way You Do" (2025). Zea E-Books Collection. 166.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/166