Milton H. Greene · PD-US

Erica Jong's 1973 novel Fear of Flying wrote about female desire with a bluntness American fiction hadn't allowed itself before, sparking controversy on publication and going on to sell more than 37 million copies worldwide. It became a touchstone of second-wave feminism, and Jong kept publishing poetry and fiction for decades afterward, never quite escaping — or wanting to escape — the book that made her name.