Originally published: Paris : Editions Gallimard, 1949

Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, Simone de Beauvoir's masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of "woman," and a groundbreaking exploration of inequality and otherness. This long-awaited new edition reinstates significant portions of the original French text that were cut in the first English translation. Vital and groundbreaking, Beauvoir's pioneering and impressive text remains as pertinent today as it was sixty years ago, and will continue to provoke and inspire generations of men and women to come

Translated into English from French

Introduction /

Judith Thurman --

Translators' note --

Volume 1: Facts And Myths --

Introduction --

Part 1: Destiny. Biological data -- Psychoanalytic point of view -- Point of view of historical materialism -- Part 2: History -- Part 3: Myths. Montherlant or the bread of disgust -- D.H. Lawrence or phallic pride -- Claudel or the handmaiden of the lord -- Breton or poetry -- Stendhal or romancing the real -- Volume 2: Lived Experience --

Introduction --

Part 1: Formative years. Childhood -- Girl -- Sexual initiation -- Lesbian -- Part 2: Situation. Married woman -- Mother -- Social life -- Prostitutes and hetaeras -- From maturity to old age -- Woman's situation and character -- Part 3: Justifications. Narcissist -- Woman in love -- Mystic -- Part 4: Toward liberation -- Independent woman --

Conclusion