The Second Coming

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE WEEK PICK

Equal parts investigative journalism and cultural criticism, The Second Coming offers a look at the sexual health and sex lives of young adults, millennials, and Gen Z in post-Roe v. Wade, post-#MeToo America—and how the challenges they face are harbingers of what’s coming for the rest of us.

As a college student, award-winning reporter Carter Sherman, along with several members of her sorority, was interviewed by a writer looking for salacious details about their sexuality and dating experiences. But the sex the girls were having—or the lack thereof—seemed disappointing, and their stories didn’t make the book’s final cut. A decade later, young Americans are having less sex than past generations, and the sexual experiences they are having are infinitely more complicated. Sherman, who has spent years travelling the country reporting on women, feminism, gender, and sexuality, wanted to find out why.

Based on more than one hundred interviews with teenagers and young adults, activists, and experts, The Second Coming reveals how (mis)education, the internet, and politics have not only reshaped relationships but also unleashed a nationwide power struggle over bodily autonomy, abortion, and the future of sexual health. From abortion clinics crowded with young patients, to “Dating with Dignity” seminars at the National Pro-Life Summit, to school board battles over what students should read, think, and feel, we meet folks from both sides of the aisle who are well-informed, empowered, and active (even if not always sexually). And as measures are taken to limit Americans’ access to rights and resources, they are fighting back.

In the tradition of Rebecca Traister and Lisa Taddeo, The Second Coming explores how the ballot box has infiltrated the bedroom, and the breaking point as a nation we’ve reached as a result.