It's Time We Learned About the Einstein of Sex

In The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, the Visionary of Weimar Berlin, Daniel Brook revives the life story of an influential German thinker far ahead of his time.

More than a century ago, Magnus Hirschfeld argued that gender and sexuality are fluid—and later, that race is a social construct. As you might expect, the Nazis weren’t fans, but they didn’t write Hirschfeld out of history. That erasure happened in the U.S., even though, as Daniel and I discuss, it was Hirschfeld’s books destroyed at the infamous book burning in 1933. In a time of resurgent fascist politics, Daniel told me, “It’s high time” we learned about Magnus.

Daniel Brook is a journalist and author whose writing has appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, and The Nation. He’s now the author of four books.