An illuminating portrait of a lost thinker, German-Jewish sexologist and activist Magnus Hirschfeld.

Available May 13, 2025

The Einstein of Sex

Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, the Visionary of Weimar Berlin

An illuminating portrait of a lost thinker, German-Jewish sexologist and activist Magnus Hirschfeld.

More than a century ago, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld first argued that gender and sexuality were fluid. Dubbed "the Einstein of Sex," Hirschfeld grew famous (and infamous) for his liberating theory of sexual relativity. Today, he's been largely forgotten.

Journalist Daniel Brook reinvigorates Hirschfeld's legacy, recovering one of the great visionaries of the twentieth century. As an advocate for trans acceptance and the decriminalization of homosexuality, Hirschfeld served as intellectual impresario to Weimar Berlin's libertine cabaret culture. Driven from his homeland by fascists, he embarked on a global survey of human sexuality and witnessed the diversity of gay life, as well as the impacts of imperialism and racism firsthand. Hirschfeld spent his final years in exile, working to debunk Nazi race science and warn the world of the genocidal dangers of racism. Rich in passion and intellect, The Einstein of Sex at last brings together this unsung icon's work on sexuality, gender, and race and recovers the globe-trotting visionary who first saw beyond the binaries.

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)

On the run from the Nazis, Magnus circumnavigated the globe conducting a far-flung research trip on sex and gender in the non-Western World. Here he is in Borobudur, Indonesia posing between a pair of ancient "phallus stones." Traveling the world with his polyamorous partner Li Shiu Tong of Hong Kong, "the Einstein of Sex" expanded his revolutionary thinking from sexual orientation and gender to race.

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)

Hirschfeld's Berlin

Click to explore Weimar Berlin by day and by night

Praise for The Einstein of Sex

“Finally, a fitting tribute to the Godfather of Sexology, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld! Sweeping in scope and immensely readable, featuring a veritable tour de shvants and cabaret of scene-work, The Einstein of Sex paints the sexuality of the great man back into his body of expertise. The queer world applauds such a triumph.”
— Robert Fieseler, author of American Scare and Tinderbox

“A revelatory biography of perhaps our most important unsung queer hero who over a century ago introduced the Western world to the heretical idea that humans navigate spectrums of sexuality, gender and even race, and that this complexity is deeply healthy for our development as humans. We now know Magnus was right.”
— John Cameron Mitchell, Tony award-winning director, writer, and star of creator of Hedwig and the Angry Inch

“Magnus Hirschfield was one of the 20th-century’s most influential social scientists, but today his name is largely forgotten. In this riveting historical biography, Daniel Brook narrates the brilliant life and violent suppression of a queer, Jewish, cosmopolitan intellectual whose ideas about sexuality and race were ahead of their time and as urgent today as they were a century ago.”
— Eric Klinenberg, Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences, New York University

“Finally, a fitting tribute to the Godfather of Sexology, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld! Sweeping in scope and immensely readable, featuring a veritable tour de shvants and cabaret of scene-work, The Einstein of Sex paints the sexuality of the great man back into his body of expertise. The queer world applauds such a triumph.”
— Robert Fieseler, author of American Scare and Tinderbox

“A revelatory biography of perhaps our most important unsung queer hero who over a century ago introduced the Western world to the heretical idea that humans navigate spectrums of sexuality, gender and even race, and that this complexity is deeply healthy for our development as humans. We now know Magnus was right.”
— John Cameron Mitchell, Tony award-winning director, writer, and star of creator of Hedwig and the Angry Inch

“Magnus Hirschfield was one of the 20th-century’s most influential social scientists, but today his name is largely forgotten. In this riveting historical biography, Daniel Brook narrates the brilliant life and violent suppression of a queer, Jewish, cosmopolitan intellectual whose ideas about sexuality and race were ahead of their time and as urgent today as they were a century ago.”
— Eric Klinenberg, Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences, New York University