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Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love Paperback – July 30, 2013
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
*Starred Review* He was an ob-gyn on staff at the medical school at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Emotionally chilly and egotistical, Masters was interested in researching human sexuality. Johnson was a divorced mother of two, looking for a job and a way to earn a degree. She accepted a job offer as research assistant—and sex with Masters as a condition of employment, ostensibly in the name of science. Working together in the 1950s and 1960s, they built on the earlier work of Alfred Kinsey and changed the way Americans looked at sex. Maier goes beyond the image and contributions of this world-famous couple to reveal a driven and calculating man who divorced his faithful wife after 29 years and married Johnson to prevent her from marrying a wealthy benefactor of their clinic. Johnson, though granted equal credit for their work, never got over feelings of inadequacy. She subverted her personality and desires only to have Masters divorce her after 21 years to marry an old sweetheart from his youth. Maier recounts the boldness of their experiments and treatments, controversies surrounding their use of surrogates and study of prostitutes, and their eventual decline as the sexual revolution they sparked raced ahead of them. Based on interviews, Masters’ unpublished memoir, and clinic documents, Maier’s book offers a wonderfully written and totally absorbing look at an amazing couple. --Vanessa Bush
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
A Chicago Tribune Favorite Nonfiction Book of 2009
"Told with patience and care . . . Maier writes well, and with humor." --New York Times
"Award-winning biographer Maier . . . delivers the first in-depth look at a complex couple who helped revolutionize the study of human sexual response. Academics and amateur sexperts alike will rejoice."
--Library Journal
"A wonderfully written and totally absorbing look at an amazing
couple." --Booklist
"Masters of Sex is a terrific book about the unlikely couple who touched off the sexual revolution. More than a biography, this is an intimate history of sex in the twentieth century."
--Debby Applegate, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.
"A well-written and insightful account of Masters and Johnson, who, in a clinical sense, probably knew more about sex and marital love than any other couple in America."
--Gay Talese, author --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"Told with patience and care . . . Maier writes well, and with humor." --New York Times
"Award-winning biographer Maier . . . delivers the first in-depth look at a complex couple who helped revolutionize the study of human sexual response. Academics and amateur sexperts alike will rejoice."
--Library Journal
"A wonderfully written and totally absorbing look at an amazing
couple." --Booklist
"Masters of Sex is a terrific book about the unlikely couple who touched off the sexual revolution. More than a biography, this is an intimate history of sex in the twentieth century."
--Debby Applegate, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.
"A well-written and insightful account of Masters and Johnson, who, in a clinical sense, probably knew more about sex and marital love than any other couple in America."
--Gay Talese, author --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
More About the Author
America in our times is the backdrop for my previous biographies, all of which have been singled out by critics for best-of-the-year honors. I'm hoping readers will like my new book, "WHEN LIONS ROAR: The Churchills and the Kennedys," (Crown, October 2014) which examines the relationship of the two famous dynasties. It's my most ambitious work so far. It is a sprawling saga with some 1783 separate footnotes, much of it from primary documents in the Churchill Archives and other repositories in the United Kingdom, the JFK Library in Boston, the FDR Library in NY, and the Library of Congress in DC. It casts new light on the little-known personal history between the two families and contains several important disclosures about their business and political dealings and their impact on our lives today.
I'm also the author and a producer of "MASTERS OF SEX" - the Emmy-winning Showtime drama series based on my biography of Masters and Johnson. (On Amazon, make sure to look for the new book edition featuring actors Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan on the cover). WATCH THIS VIDEO to hear about the making of "Masters of Sex" from my biography into the Showtime series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQy6fyy5LgU
When first published as a hardcover in 2009, "Masters of Sex" was called "eye-opening" and "a bombshell" by the Sunday New York Times Book Review, "well written with good humor" by the NY Times daily reviewer Dwight Garner, "an intelligent and well-conceived biography" by The Washington Post, along with a starred review by Booklist. The Chicago Tribune listed it among the paper's favorite non-fiction books of 2009. [Oprah's "O" magazine even cited it among its top 10 "smart, engaging, occasionally uproarious" books dealing with sex].
"THE KENNEDYS: America's Emerald Kings" (Basic Books, 2003) was featured on ABC's "20/20" program, the CBS Evening News, NBC's "Today" show and in publications around the world. "The Kennedys" was praised as one of the top 10 all-time JFK books by the American Booksellers Association's "Book Sense" program. It was featured prominently as annual holiday choice by USA Today's literary critics. It was also a selection of the Book of the Month Club, the History Book Club, excerpted in Redbook and received "blurb" endorsements from historians James MacGregor Burns, Ronald Steel and Newsweek's Evan Thomas. The unabridged audiotape version of "The Kennedys" also won the Earphone Award from Audiofile magazine. Warners Bros. Home Video produced a DVD documentary from my book with the same name that was sold in 2008 along with Oliver Stone's classic movie feature "JFK".
"DR. SPOCK: An American Life" (Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1998), was selected as one of the top ten non-fiction books of 1998 by The Boston Globe and as a "Notable Book of the Year" by The New York Times. Excerpts appeared in Newsweek, U.S News and World Report and it was condensed as a Readers' Digest book. I also appeared on NBC's "Today" show, C-Span's "BookTV," and served as consultant and on-air commentator for a documentary about Dr. Spock's life, jointly produced by the BBC and A&E's "Biography." A paperback version was published in spring 2003 by Basic Books to mark Dr. Spock's 100th birthday. Filmmaker Susanna Styron, daughter of novelist William Styron and a teacher at Columbia's film school, bought the rights to this book with her production company.
"NEWHOUSE: All the Glitter, Power and Glory of America's Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It," (St. Martin's Press, 1994) won the Frank Luther Mott Award by the National Honor Society in Journalism and Mass Communication as best media book of the year. Excerpts appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, Worth, and The London Telegraph magazine. An updated trade paperback of "Newhouse," published by Johnson Books, was picked by Entertainment Weekly as one of the top ten "must reads" for the 1997 summer season.
Since 1984, I've been a writer for Newsday in New York, previously working at the Chicago Sun-Times. In 2002, I won the world's top $20,000 investigative prize from the International Consortium of Investigative Reporting, now called the "Daniel Pearl Award", for a series about the deadly exploitation of immigrant workers. Others investigative series of mine have won the national Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award (twice, 1987 and 2013), the national Worth Bingham Award, National Headliners Award, New York Deadline Club, Society of Silurians and many others. I earned a master's degree in 1982 from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where I won the television documentary prize at graduation. and was later awarded a McCloy fellowship to Europe.
I'm also the author and a producer of "MASTERS OF SEX" - the Emmy-winning Showtime drama series based on my biography of Masters and Johnson. (On Amazon, make sure to look for the new book edition featuring actors Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan on the cover). WATCH THIS VIDEO to hear about the making of "Masters of Sex" from my biography into the Showtime series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQy6fyy5LgU
When first published as a hardcover in 2009, "Masters of Sex" was called "eye-opening" and "a bombshell" by the Sunday New York Times Book Review, "well written with good humor" by the NY Times daily reviewer Dwight Garner, "an intelligent and well-conceived biography" by The Washington Post, along with a starred review by Booklist. The Chicago Tribune listed it among the paper's favorite non-fiction books of 2009. [Oprah's "O" magazine even cited it among its top 10 "smart, engaging, occasionally uproarious" books dealing with sex].
"THE KENNEDYS: America's Emerald Kings" (Basic Books, 2003) was featured on ABC's "20/20" program, the CBS Evening News, NBC's "Today" show and in publications around the world. "The Kennedys" was praised as one of the top 10 all-time JFK books by the American Booksellers Association's "Book Sense" program. It was featured prominently as annual holiday choice by USA Today's literary critics. It was also a selection of the Book of the Month Club, the History Book Club, excerpted in Redbook and received "blurb" endorsements from historians James MacGregor Burns, Ronald Steel and Newsweek's Evan Thomas. The unabridged audiotape version of "The Kennedys" also won the Earphone Award from Audiofile magazine. Warners Bros. Home Video produced a DVD documentary from my book with the same name that was sold in 2008 along with Oliver Stone's classic movie feature "JFK".
"DR. SPOCK: An American Life" (Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1998), was selected as one of the top ten non-fiction books of 1998 by The Boston Globe and as a "Notable Book of the Year" by The New York Times. Excerpts appeared in Newsweek, U.S News and World Report and it was condensed as a Readers' Digest book. I also appeared on NBC's "Today" show, C-Span's "BookTV," and served as consultant and on-air commentator for a documentary about Dr. Spock's life, jointly produced by the BBC and A&E's "Biography." A paperback version was published in spring 2003 by Basic Books to mark Dr. Spock's 100th birthday. Filmmaker Susanna Styron, daughter of novelist William Styron and a teacher at Columbia's film school, bought the rights to this book with her production company.
"NEWHOUSE: All the Glitter, Power and Glory of America's Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It," (St. Martin's Press, 1994) won the Frank Luther Mott Award by the National Honor Society in Journalism and Mass Communication as best media book of the year. Excerpts appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, Worth, and The London Telegraph magazine. An updated trade paperback of "Newhouse," published by Johnson Books, was picked by Entertainment Weekly as one of the top ten "must reads" for the 1997 summer season.
Since 1984, I've been a writer for Newsday in New York, previously working at the Chicago Sun-Times. In 2002, I won the world's top $20,000 investigative prize from the International Consortium of Investigative Reporting, now called the "Daniel Pearl Award", for a series about the deadly exploitation of immigrant workers. Others investigative series of mine have won the national Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award (twice, 1987 and 2013), the national Worth Bingham Award, National Headliners Award, New York Deadline Club, Society of Silurians and many others. I earned a master's degree in 1982 from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where I won the television documentary prize at graduation. and was later awarded a McCloy fellowship to Europe.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
150 of 168 people found the following review helpful
By
S. M Marson
on March 30, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Verified Purchase
11 Comments
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While a graduate student at Ohio State, I was pursuing the path of becoming a sex therapist. As part of that, I attended a workshop sponsored by Masters and Johnson in Chicago. Prior to the workshop in Chicago, I met them at Ohio State. I was profoundly impressed with their insight and therapeutic skills. Within the literature, there have been so many false conjectures regarding their work; it is difficult to sort out reality from false rumor. Because of a series of letters I have in my files, I have concluded that the major events described in this biography are accurate.
The biography is packed with two profound paradoxes that should have a major impact on the development, testing and construction of social science theory - but probably won't - we tend to make the same mistakes in our history rather than learning from our errors.
First, in my academic background I found theory construction be to paradoxical. In theory construction, we learned that devotion to a theory produces a blinder that can prohibit the researcher from identifying more meaningful explanations. In quantitative research, we are taught to begin with a hypothesis that emerges from a theory to avoid "type I errors." Masters was trained in traditional quantitative science and his world view was contaminated by theory (particularly Freudian theory). Because of her lack of formal education, Johnson (probably with greater innate intelligence than Masters) had NO academic world view. Her vision of sexology has no theoretical limitations. She was able to envision sexuality in a manner that was theoretically unparalleled. She, with the assistance of Masters's knowledge of science, was able to institute a major paradigm shift in sexology.Read more ›
The biography is packed with two profound paradoxes that should have a major impact on the development, testing and construction of social science theory - but probably won't - we tend to make the same mistakes in our history rather than learning from our errors.
First, in my academic background I found theory construction be to paradoxical. In theory construction, we learned that devotion to a theory produces a blinder that can prohibit the researcher from identifying more meaningful explanations. In quantitative research, we are taught to begin with a hypothesis that emerges from a theory to avoid "type I errors." Masters was trained in traditional quantitative science and his world view was contaminated by theory (particularly Freudian theory). Because of her lack of formal education, Johnson (probably with greater innate intelligence than Masters) had NO academic world view. Her vision of sexology has no theoretical limitations. She was able to envision sexuality in a manner that was theoretically unparalleled. She, with the assistance of Masters's knowledge of science, was able to institute a major paradigm shift in sexology.Read more ›
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43 of 48 people found the following review helpful
By
Loves the View
VINE VOICE on September 26, 2009
Format: Hardcover
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Their lives were a period piece. Their work would have had no other relevancy but during post war America. Masters was a pioneer in this medical field and Johnson a pioneer in her field of therapy. They were ahead of their time in taking a female inclusive approach to sex therapy. How would the sexual revolution have evolved without this staid Midwestern couple giving couples a means to discuss and/or improve their sex life?
At the end of the book we realize that besides their 1950's lab techniques, the necessary secretiveness of their work and their reluctance to franchise, they, themselves, were of this time as well. While the author doesn't speculate, besides Masters' deterioration with age, deeply rooted values probably affected his later work on homosexuality and AIDS. The norms of their youth and childhoods certainly informed both their attitudes towards each other.
The book is a great read, you can't put it down. I gave it 4 not 5 stars because there are some significant missing pieces in Johnson's portrait. While Masters' family life is well covered, Johnson's is vague. (How did she/someone else raise her children? "Uncle" Larry, whose death upsets her children had been mentioned only once.) Before and after the divorce, what was the actual governance/ownership of the institute, the copyrights and all the property associated with the partnership? Maier writes that Johnson lost heavily, but how is not clear. She has the very valuable tapes, which implies significant ownership.
The portrait of Virginia Johnson is so provocative it calls for more. Perhaps, someone can build on this and may get also get her cooperation, as had Maier.
At the end of the book we realize that besides their 1950's lab techniques, the necessary secretiveness of their work and their reluctance to franchise, they, themselves, were of this time as well. While the author doesn't speculate, besides Masters' deterioration with age, deeply rooted values probably affected his later work on homosexuality and AIDS. The norms of their youth and childhoods certainly informed both their attitudes towards each other.
The book is a great read, you can't put it down. I gave it 4 not 5 stars because there are some significant missing pieces in Johnson's portrait. While Masters' family life is well covered, Johnson's is vague. (How did she/someone else raise her children? "Uncle" Larry, whose death upsets her children had been mentioned only once.) Before and after the divorce, what was the actual governance/ownership of the institute, the copyrights and all the property associated with the partnership? Maier writes that Johnson lost heavily, but how is not clear. She has the very valuable tapes, which implies significant ownership.
The portrait of Virginia Johnson is so provocative it calls for more. Perhaps, someone can build on this and may get also get her cooperation, as had Maier.
Thank you for your feedback.
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63 of 77 people found the following review helpful
By
Turkey Jerky
on November 3, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
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3 Comments
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Let me start off by saying that I don't have any problem with the sexual content of this book. But some of the heavy breathing feels so overdone, it's just really silly. Some of the depictions of sex, like the description of when Johnson loses her virginity, are also a little creepy.
But more importantly, I was really hoping for a critical examination of the lives and work of Masters and Johnson. What I got was just overwrought gossip and all surface. To me, it felt like the book was mostly just a string of interviews the author conducted and had only started to make sense of. There is so much in here that does not require direct quoting and where the full quote was overkill, or only serves to repeat an idea that has already been drilled into our heads: Masters was distant, Johnson was independent, yeah, yeah, we got it. A bunch of random doctors and colleagues talking about the speculation going around the office about whether or not Masters and Johnson were having sex with each other. The narrative is driven by this collection of quotes, rather than the other way around. That only works if the people being quoted have anything interesting to say, which is rarely the case here. It's pretty vapid stuff - Wow, Bill Masters liked football! And he sometimes annoyed his friend (a former pro turned coach) with his chatter - not exactly riveting. You could condense this entire book to less than 100 pages without losing any substance and without really losing too many details, either.
Additionally, the dramas here aren't dramas, but the real dramas are ignored. For example, Johnson's looking up of an old boyfriend near the end of her life and feeling sad when she heard he'd died does not qualify as a drama in my book, but a normal human response.Read more ›
But more importantly, I was really hoping for a critical examination of the lives and work of Masters and Johnson. What I got was just overwrought gossip and all surface. To me, it felt like the book was mostly just a string of interviews the author conducted and had only started to make sense of. There is so much in here that does not require direct quoting and where the full quote was overkill, or only serves to repeat an idea that has already been drilled into our heads: Masters was distant, Johnson was independent, yeah, yeah, we got it. A bunch of random doctors and colleagues talking about the speculation going around the office about whether or not Masters and Johnson were having sex with each other. The narrative is driven by this collection of quotes, rather than the other way around. That only works if the people being quoted have anything interesting to say, which is rarely the case here. It's pretty vapid stuff - Wow, Bill Masters liked football! And he sometimes annoyed his friend (a former pro turned coach) with his chatter - not exactly riveting. You could condense this entire book to less than 100 pages without losing any substance and without really losing too many details, either.
Additionally, the dramas here aren't dramas, but the real dramas are ignored. For example, Johnson's looking up of an old boyfriend near the end of her life and feeling sad when she heard he'd died does not qualify as a drama in my book, but a normal human response.Read more ›
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