Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-06-05
Books mentioned on The Right’s Pre-Modern ‘Masculinist’ Fantasy | The Ezra Klein Show
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan is a landmark 1963 text of second-wave feminism that famously critiqued the stifling domestic confinement and unhappiness experienced by suburban housewives.
Discussed“It was something that Betty Fredan was writing about in the feminine seat when she was talking about specifically the unhappiness of stay-at-home housewives.”
Where to get it
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The Last Men
Discussed“So, not I don't think all of those things are ridiculous, you know, and that's that's that's something that comes up a lot in um The Last Man, the idea that, you know, elites are keeping you fat...”
Where to get it
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Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford is a historical biography detailing the life of the influential chief mistress of King Louis XV of France.
Recommended“Nancy Mittford's biography of Madame de Pompador, Mistress of Louis the 15th of France.”
Where to get it
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The Genius Factory
The Genius Factory by David Plotz is a non-fiction investigative book that uncovers the bizarre history of a repository established to propagate the DNA of exceptionally gifted individuals.
Recommended“So, I have brought The Genius Factory by David Plots, which is the story of one mad eugenicist millionaire who decides that the way to solve all of America's problem is to get lots of Nobel Prize winners to donate their sperm...”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Own book Difficult Women
“Helen Lewis is a staff writer of the Atlantic and the author of Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights and the Genius Myth.”
Own book The Genius Myth
“Helen Lewis is a staff writer of the Atlantic and the author of Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights and the Genius Myth.”
Own book Difficult Women
“In my first book, which is a history of feminism, I wrote about some of the women who wrote to Mary Stoopes, who was our kind of version of Margaret Sanger, a contraceptive pioneer.”
Own book Difficult Women
“I wrote in difficult women about the problems of boys in school which again I think are real.”