Books by Rachel (Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History Chrastil

In How to Be Childless: A History and Philosophy of Life Without Children, Rachel Chrastil explores the long and fascinating history of childlessness, putting this often-overlooked legacy in conversation with the issues that childless women and men face in the twenty-first century. Eschewing two dominant narratives, that the childless are either barren and alone, or that they are carefree and selfish, How to Be Childless instead argues that thelives of childless individuals from the past can help all of us expand our range of possibilities for the good life.