This is well-written, well researched history of the public regulation of sexual behavior. The authors' outspokenness and radical slant will make this a controversial book, but it is not orthodox or doctrinaire, and the forcefulness, clarity, adn skill with which the authors defend their position will challenge skeptics. Although there is much in the book with which I disagree, it is a good and interesting book and deserves to make a splash.-Richard A. Posner, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals
In Hard Bargains Hirshman and Larson argue that heterosexual bargains, particularly outside of marriage, are presently made in a virtual state of nature, that this is intolerably unjust, and that law should be used to structure fair agreements in our sexual lives by strengthening the hand of the weak. Althoug their premise-that sex is or ought to be understood as a bargain-is sure to provoke passionate debate, their Hobbesian argument is admirably clear, the history of heterosexual politics and the intellectual movements surrounding them is well-told, and their suggested reformes in current law, if adopted, might well move us toward a more just socio-sexual world. This is an important book, original, and thoroughly engaging book. Anyone interested in the role of law in improving our public lives and our sexual politics will find this work extremely valuable.-Robin West, Georgetown University Law School
Offers an incisive look into how morality gets shaped and regulated. As much, it is an important contribution to feminist theory and U.S. social history.-Library Journal
This is a well written, well researched history of the public regulation of sexual behavior. The authors' outspokeness and radical slant will make this a controversial book, but it is not orthodox or doctrinaire, and the forcefulness, clarity, and skill with which the authors defend their position will challenge skeptics. Although there is much in the book which I disagree, it is a good and interesting book and deserves to make a splash.-Richard A. Posner, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
From Plato to Catharine MacKinnon, the authors trace the varying philosophical viewpoints of heterosexual politics. Their premise is that heterosexual sex is political and that much of sexual politics is worked out in discrete instances of one-on-one bargaining outside the public eye.' Although the narrative travels swiftly through history, it manages to feel remarkably thorough and gives the impression that the authors filtered details out only when appropriate.-The National Law Journal
This is a superb book. It will raise a storm of controversy and will prove very influential in terms of public policy and legal reform.-Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Professor of History, American Culture, and Women's Studies, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
This is an important, original, and thoroughly engaging book. Anyone interested in the role of law in improving our public lives and our sexual politics will find this work extremely valuable. Although their premise-that sex is or ought to be understood as a bargain-is sure to provoke passionate debate... their suggested reforms in current law, if adopted, might well move us toward a more just socio-sexual world. -Professor Robin West, Georgetown University Law Center
Libraries with patrons for relatively demanding wroks on gender issues and legal theory may want to acquire this challenging analysis of sex, power, law, and history.-Booklist
The book leaves no sheet unturned to make its point that sex between men and women should not be a private matter. Instead, sex is an extension of social life, and every sex act contributes to the public welfare.-Playboy
