The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin

by Daniel Brook, Patrick Mealey (Narrator)

More than a century ago, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, dubbed the "Einstein of Sex," grew famous (and infamous) for his liberating theory of sexual relativity. Today, he's been largely forgotten.

Journalist Daniel Brook retraces Hirschfeld's rollicking life and reinvigorates his legacy, recovering one of the great visionaries of the twentieth century. In an era when gay sex was a crime and gender roles rigid, Hirschfeld taught that each of us is their own unique mixture of masculinity and femininity. Through his public advocacy for gay rights and his private counseling of patients toward self-acceptance, he became the intellectual impresario of Berlin's cabaret scene and helped turn his hometown into the world's queer capital. But he also enraged the Nazis, who ransacked his Institute for Sexual Science and burned his books.

Driven from his homeland, Hirschfeld traveled to America, Asia, and the Middle East to research sexuality on a global scale. Through his harrowing lived experience of antisemitic persecution and a pivotal late-in-life interracial romance, he came to see that race, like gender, was a human invention. Hirschfeld spent his final years in exile trying to warn the world of the genocidal dangers of racism.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, LGBT, Queer, Sexuality, Adult

Audible Audio

Published May 20, 2025

Reviews

[Sunny Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!!! What a propulsive and necessary biography of one of the nearly-forgotten, incredibly forward-thinking, and waaaaayyyy ahead of his time queer figures of history. Magnus Hirschfeld is one of the fathers of our contemporary understandings of gender, sexuality, and race. The Nazis tried to wipe out his work and existence not only because he was a gay Jew, but mostly because of how much his research and ideas threatened race science backed theories of Aryan supremacy and homophobia. I am incredibly grateful to this book for making Dr. Hirschfeld's extensive scientific and social research accessible to us modern-day readers. I highly, highly, highly recommend this book to anyone interested in queer history, WWII, and anti-fascist/anti-racist queer liberation movements. I learned so much, and his groundbreaking theories of gender and sexuality, anti-racism, and anti-imperialism resonate strongly to this day. Daniel Brook deftly narrates and documents the personal experiences that shaped Hirschfeld's progressive politics while keeping a close eye on the sociopolitical backdrop of his life.

[Catherine Hultman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in the last decade! I was astonished at the many "firsts" of Hirschfeld. He even coined the terms racist, racism and social construction (social construct).

I heard about Hirschfeld (MH) when reading about Kinsey. I didn't know that Kinsey's work only exists because of MH (in fact, was lifted directly from MH). This is what happens when brilliant people are silenced due to racism and homophobia (as well as all "othered communites").

Hirscheld's sexual orientation and gender identity research led to research regarding race. Just as his attempt to categorize sexual orientation into just three categories (straight, gay, bi) failed, so did his attempt to categorize race. "...but as he discovered a panorama of gradations, the divisions collapsed. He'd found the same spectrum in looking at masculinity and femininity."

Regarding race, MH said, "As with sexuality, the categories tell us more about the categorizer than the categorized. The racists have not discovered race; they have invented race."

Since the pinnacle of MH's research dovetailed with Hitler's rise to power, MH was in a unique position as he was Jewish and gay. MH said that the Nazis needed race. "How else to replace a politics of universal rights with a policy of us and them?"

The Nazis turned class tensions into racial tensions (sound familiar to my fellow Americans?). "Anger that in the depths of the depression might have been directed against the conservative industrial oligarchs and the independently wealthy descendants of noblemen was deflected by convincing the German masses that their society was not controlled by these wealthy heirs but by a shadowy racial Others who had taken over their professions and cultural institutions." Incredibly, "Race war instead of class war" was actually an official Nazi slogan.

I could go on and on about this book (ask my friends!). There is so much more that was covered (gender fluidity, MH's methods of research, his sexual research institute and the burning of its 40,000 books by the Nazis, Berlin within the Weimar Republic, his research methods...).

As Heinrich Heine said nearly a century before the Holocaust, "Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people." America, let that be a warning.

[CNV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both a biography of Dr. Hirschfeld and a well-argued plea that he was right for the very reason he had a target on his back. Due to his historical significance, the book goes more into political history than your average biography, and it is very well done narratively. The comparisons to Einstein seemed a little cheesy to me, but in a go-off-king kinda way :Þ

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. Look for this when it comes out next month.

[Nev · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is very interested in queer history, I already knew of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and the work he started over 100 years ago in studying gender and sexuality and advocating for acceptance and decriminalization. But I only had a very broad overview of him and his work. Reading this book was such an amazing experience to really get to dive deep into everything he was studying and fighting for. There are so many things in this book that are sadly still relevant to today. Like fascists trying to destroy queer knowledge and safe spaces, fighting back against Nazis, trying to warn about genocidal racism, and so much more. Definitely check this book out if you’re interested in queer history or the history of studying sexuality and gender.

I know they would never read this, but it would really show some people that being trans or queer isn’t some recent phenomenon.

[Ève Leger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld was a man who was 100 years ahead of his time. In a time where the world was so cruel, Hirschfeld managed to cultivate an environment of safety, acceptance and progress for LGBTQ+ individuals in early 20th century Berlin. He is single-handedly responsible for so much innovation in gender-affirming care, sociological research on gender, sexuality and race, and yet our community is barely aware of him. It is a disservice to his intellect and his willingness to sacrifice his own safety to forget such an important figure in our history. This should be a required read for queer people, and for their allies. This might be the most important book to come out this decade.

[Keelin Rita]

Another successful book in the books. I really liked this biography. I think it did a great job outlining all the work that Hirschfeld accomplished in his time, and a good job commenting on how some of his thoughts are outdated and of the climate that he lived in. This wasn't my first introduction to the man, but this did give me more information which is what I wanted. I did struggle sometimes to know what year we were in, Hirschfeld was doing so much in such a little time, and the book would date drop for other things and I wouldn't know where those were in relation to the time we're talking about. Eventually I figured it out, but it happened a couple times. Which, it is totally possible that I just lost track of the year, not necessarily that the writing made it confusing. I was listening to this on audio so I could have easily just missed something.

Something that wasn't mentioned, or that I missed (but that would mean it was mentioned very briefly), was that Hirschfeld's list of addresses for the queer people he employed or helped was used by the Nazis to round them up and send them to camps. I feel like this is a significant thing to mention? It feels interesting that it wasn't. I'm not sure if it's that it's not 100% confirmed, but I did find that in my searching before writing this review. So I don't know! But I thought it was worth noting.

This book pains me as much as it uplifts me. It is so amazing to see how much work was done about gender and sexuality, and how much was done in such a short time. But it's also devastating how much was lost, people and work. I can only imagine how much further along we'd be if Hirschfeld and his work had been fully embraced and accepted. It's great that he had the acceptance he did, and it could have been greater. I think it will always be tough thinking about what happened to Hirschfeld, his institute, and the people in his care, and I am grateful that there is work being published that can inform people about the great work that he did.

[Jenny Goetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically written and endlessly interesting. I would encourage any queer person or lover of history to give this a whirl.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book is a wonderful read, as well as an important addition to queer biography. Even LGBTQ people may be only vaguely aware of Magnus Hirschfeld and his importance during his life and relevance to our current situation. I encourage anyone and everyone to read this book and learn more about him, I am confident you will be glad you did.

In case you don't already know, Hirschfeld founded the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin, and when you see those old newsreels of Nazis burning books on a huge bonfire, that's Hirschfeld's library they are burning. You can see the Nazis carrying a bust of Hirschfeld on a pike around the bonfire.

Hirschfeld realized that sexuality and gender were both more about endless individual variations along a spectrum, rather than rigid categories of normal/abnormal, straight/gay, man/woman. He eventually applied this same notion to race in his book Racism, refuting the Nazi's nonsense (as well as the same nonsense that remained the law in America well into my childhood, and even now has led to the current fascist regime in this country). So this book is sadly relevant for more than just a bit of historical perspective, thought that is always important.

Here is the book's conclusion: "The Einstein of physics held the secret to a bomb that could level Berlin in an instant, but the Einstein of sex had an even more powerful weapon in his arsenal: the Grand Unified Theory of Everyone. With its democratic politics of universal equality through universal diversity, it could break the fascist politics of us and them. It still can."

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievably good! I have an actual degree in Women's Studies and am the most over-educated person I know when it comes to the social sciences and subjects like race and gender, yet the name "Magnus Hirschfield" was only vaguely familiar when I picked this book up, and I know I hadn't learned much - if anything - about him before reading it.

So imagine my surprise when I realized that everything he said over a century ago is what (educated) people now accept as "fact" about human categorization: every attribute is on a spectrum (sex, gender, race, etc) and it's all relative. The dividing lines are arbitrary and entirely man-made. Master's & Johnson took all the credit when this guy was 50 years before their time.

You definitely want to read this book.

[Carol Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

AI Narrator?
The publisher did a shamefully bad job with the audiobook version & a disservice to author Daniel Brook. It’s first of all rushed, with a curious lack of pause between paragraphs and sections. But the mispronunciations are legion—not just in the German words, which even a non-German speaker can tell are absolute clunkers—but in English words like “idyllic” (Patrick Mealey pronounces as “eye-DEAL-ick”) and “archipelago” and countless more. Daniel Brook, I’m sorry the publisher ruined your otherwise fascinating and terrifically well-paced account of Dr Magnus Hirschfeld’s incomparable life and career.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good biography of the father of sexology. Hirschfeld’s institute may have been the libido of Weimar Berlin. His concepts of the continua of gender and race should be the beginning of the end of sexual repression and racism, yet here we are.

The author’s style is lively and this is not a scholarly work but it does a fine job of showing how Hirschfeld’s theories were disseminated through the distinctive culture of 20s Germany, affecting law, politics, night life, and tolerance, until the Hitler mob put an end to all those things.

[Lin Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel compelled to write a review about this book, though I make an active effort to avoid doing so under normal circumstances.

For starters, let’s not call it Weimar Germany, that is a term created by Adolph hitler. The more accurate term would be the Deutsches Reich or German Empire. But that doesn’t have any effect on the book or its quality.

This book is equal parts illuminating and absolutely bloody terrifying. Magnus would fit into today’s world better than I do. I only wish he could have lived to see the advancement we have made. But I also think he would be appalled but maybe not surprised to learn that we are still having arguments that he settled 100+ years ago.

I won’t sit here and say that old Magnus had everything 100% correct. Look, 97% is still an A+…. Even Isaac Newton got some things wrong.

If I could get everyone in the world to read this book, as an author, I would have very little to add save a few modern caveats perhaps. Then I could go about writing romcoms and sipping umbrella drinks on the beach.

As a trans woman, I’d have no worries, man. But since I didn’t have to wait to read this at the library and no one waited on me while I read it, I’m thinking he will continue to be a fringe character in the annals of history despite his world changing work.

Instead I literally fear that the same fate will happen to me. Censorship under threats of mortal violence. In the land of the free no less. My Grandfather killed in the Pacific Theater of that war so that I might live a life of peace, but I’m sorry to say, Opa, that it couldn’t last forever.

I call upon my fellow Americans to stand up for Transgender people and all people in the LGBTQ sphere. Please, I am literally begging. I wish that no one would have to feel the way I do. This is not what Magnus wanted for us, cis straight people included.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Einstein of Sex," a new biography of Magnus Hirschfeld by Daniel Brook, celebrates this pioneer of sexual and racial theory that is progressively under attack in the increasingly Fascist times in which we live. Hirschfeld has largely been forgotten, even by many in the queer community, which is a tragedy since his work shows how much of the politics surrounding homosexuality and transgenderism has been under attack by those who believe they have the right to persecute others for diversity and difference for a very long time.

Brook's bio conventionally traces Hirschfeld's life from birth to death, but his research unearths an anything but a conventional life. The non-practicing Jewish Hirschfeld realized he was gay from a young age, and through his travels even before he had become a medical doctor, fortunately realized he wasn't alone. He spent time as a young man in both Chicago and NYC and saw the evils and inanity of the color line, the "one drop rule." He posited that race and gender were similar in that the negativity directed toward some because their race, sexuality and/or gender was different from the majority revealed more about those who discriminated than those who were discriminated against. As he wrote in a brutal takedown of a famous racist of his time, the racist "invented" difference among races; he didn't "discover" difference since human beings resemble each other 99 percent in their DNA. But scientific aptitude has never been a strong suit of those who hate!

Of course, eventually, the Nazis in Germany led by Adolf Hitler destroy Hirschfeld's institute and much of his collection is obliterated. As the memorial in Berlin today illustrates the famous Heinrich Heine quote-"Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people as well."

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brook's biography of Magnus Hirschfeld offers an introduction to the life one of the most important sexologists of the 20th-century. Hirschfeld campaigned for acceptance of homosexuality, transgender identities and against racism understanding that all of these categories were used to divide rather than unite.

"And just as the French Revolution had emancipated Europe's Jews, it had liberated Europe's gays. The new legal code safeguarded the rights of the individual: it specified that no sex act could be criminal as long as it was consensual. Just as the state would no longer dictated which body of religious or political ideas one subscribed it, it wouldn't regulate which human bodies one was attracted to. The French Revolution was also a sexual revolution." 25-26

"At the root of the racial and ethnic conflicts of the modern world-racial segregation in America, haughty Shanghailanders in China, British imperialists lording it over Indians on the subcontinent, Zionists clashing with Arabs in Palestine-Magnus saw sex. After all, sex was the means by which race and ethnicity were transmitted. One's 'race' was a record of all the reproductive sex one's ancestors had had over the generations. In a sense, race was sex and sex was race. The 'racists,' as Magnus would soon dub them, had already figured this out. Racist societies could only perpetuate themselves through the regulation of sex. The 'racial chaos' they railed against was a puritanical way of saying 'sexual chaos'-sex unbound by racial lines." 350-351

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget everything you think you know about the pioneers of sexual liberation! Daniel Brook's groundbreaking book isn't just a biography; it's a vital resurrection of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, the "Einstein of Sex," whose radical ideas changed the world – and can change it again. In a time of stifling repression, Hirschfeld dared to preach the gospel of sexual relativity, understanding that gender and sexuality exist on a spectrum. This book isn't just history; it's a battle cry. Experience the vibrant, revolutionary Berlin Hirschfeld created, a haven for the queer community, fueled by his groundbreaking research and unwavering advocacy. But this book also serves as a stark warning, a chilling reminder of the dangers of intolerance, as you witness the Nazi's brutal destruction of his life's work. Finally, this is a call to action. Hirschfeld's journey through persecution and his dedication to understanding the complexities of race resonate deeply today. This book will not only educate you but will inspire you to champion inclusivity, challenge prejudice, and embrace the beautiful diversity of the human experience. Read this book, and rediscover a lost hero whose wisdom is more relevant now than ever before!

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best English language biography of Hirschfeld that I could find. Veers into hagiography at times and glosses over some of the more interesting aspects of Hirschfeld's life. For example, I would have liked much more time on Hirschfeld's role in early sex reassignment surgery, especially since Hirshfeld's study of "transvestites" (his usage was broader than the modern one) is his most lasting and important legacy.

The author's politics came through too strongly for my taste, making it hard to separate Hirschfeld's actual views from the author's. I also don't think projection of modern concepts like queerness into early 20th century Berlin makes much sense in a historical work. Ditto for assigning they/them pronouns to people who were born before those pronouns were in common use.

Still, this book is worth reading if you're interested in Hirschfeld and the background information on Berlin's gay and lesbian social scene was fascinating.

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this book and unfortunately it just didn't live up to my expectations. I found it incredibly frustrating that the author constantly made assumptions about Hirschfeld and other key individuals in Hirschfeld's life. At least once per chapter, the author makes a comment saying something along the lines of "We can assume that Magnus thought/felt/wanted [x]." After reading this book I can definitely say that I am in general agreement with Magnus Hirschfeld on the majority of his theories and opinions, but the author was clearly trying to push his own thoughts and opinions about Hirschfeld and his inner world a bit too intensely. Let ME as the reader come to my own conclusions about Hirschfeld; I don't want you to brute force your opinions onto me. I would have enjoyed this book more if the author had removed himself emotionally a step or two from his work.

[Josie Yep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, Wow, Wow. Such a well researched history of a man before and of his time. The destruction of his work on gender, sexuality, and racism by nazis who famously burned his library of sexology, clearly set the world back to a darker place. His understanding of the links between racism and the same facist ideologies that attack Transgender and gay folks is incredible. Tragic he passed before he could publish his greatest work on racism, learned through his travels around the world. Showing the growth of facism, how Hitler used him as a public enemy (gay and Transgender folks) to unite the German people through hate, after the Weimar republic had made such leaps in acceptance of folks is a shadowy warning to the world today.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brook details the forgotten implications of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld's contributions to sexuality, specifically the queer spectrum while he worked in the toughest time to be alive, and gay, in Geramny in the early 20th century.

Brook explores Hirschfeld's life from early to adulthood and the experiences and science that gave him his visionary leadership in the field of sex and acceptance both because of his connections to the community but also his beliefs and understanding. These contributions make him not only revolutionary but visionary as the subtitle suggests. It is an intricate work that balances the biography, with the context in history, as well as the science in an academic, but not inaccessible way.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won a paperback advanced reader copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway. What a tremendous read! I hadn't heard of Dr. Hirschfeld before and feel so grateful to have learned so much about him. I also hadn't realized how inclusive Berlin had been before WWII. Brook incorporated so much history into this book and explained things so well that I didn't feel confused or lost at any point. The clarity and smoothness of the writing were wonderful and really added to the content. Brook did a wonderful job putting together this critical story!

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician, psychologist, sexologist and journalist who dedicated his life to understanding human sexuality
and fighting for social justice. He was a visionary whose ideas were far ahead of his time.

Thats what made this book such a pleasure to read. For years he fought to decriminalize male and female homosexuality, but when Hitler destroyed his office and burned his books he travelled around the world to learn how harmful customs and behaviors had resulted from underlying sexual issues. He never stopped learning and teaching.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing that Hirschfeld's work was intentionally destroyed by Nazis and forgotten for decades makes this biography of the pioneering sexologist bittersweet; as is knowing that theories of gender and race that he espoused have only recently become mainstream knowledge again. However, his story is heartening and this history is an important rebuttal that think trans and queer issues only came into being in recent decades.

[George Neville-Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad to have read this

Hirschfield comes up in many contexts but this is the first book I’ve found specifically about him. His writings are still hard to come by in translation. This book summarizes, through biography, much of Hirschfield’s research. The book is both interesting and important, perhaps as much today as Hirschfield’s ideas were in the early 20th C.

[Ren Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such I good book. I learned so much more about Hirschfeld. I’m so happy this book was written and hope more people read it!!! My favorite parts were definitely the bits about his world tour and utilizing his theories all over the world, looking into the intersections of sex and race and how long different gender identities have existed.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and important man. It’s amazing how prescient he was about sex and gender and race already at the turn of the twentieth century. He saw that our racial and sexual identities are almost as varied and individual as our fingerprints, rendering binaries and categories for such things virtually useless.

[Cam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m leaving the same review as for The Intermediaries by Brandy Schillace. They both cover Magnus Hirshfeld and the Institute for Sexual Science and the period in which it existed (and after), but the approach and style are different. Both are painfully prescient of where we are today with transphobia, homophobia, racism, and anti-semitism. Both are informative and terrifying reads.

[Pam Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and informative! It is interesting to find out that we are having the same conversations that were happening a hundred years ago. A combination of history, advocacy, and points of view to start new informed conversations. More than a biography - a good read.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received in a Goodreads giveaway. Excellent and fascinating read. I learned so much. It's interesting to see the parallels today, how we are just getting to the same place where Hirschfield was regarding gender sexuality and race all being a continuum. Thoroughly researched and insightful.

[Aayushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really accessible biography with some chilling references to nazi propaganda that rings way too familiar. Terrifying, but also incredible to learn about how so many people have understood and existed outside boundaries of accepted gender and sexuality in the face of so much backlash.

[Francesca Penchant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating biography of a progressive social scientist for the general reader whose work the nazis tried to erase.

Audiobook narrator mispronounces dozens of relatively common words—wish the publisher had taken more care on the audiobook! 😢