Introduction -- Origins. Muscle ; Fat ; Feathers -- Sarah. Life ; Legacy -- Shape. Bigness ; Smallness -- Norma. Creation ; Proliferation ; Resistance -- Fit. Steel ; Joy -- Bootylicious. Kate ; Mix ; Jennifer ; Kim -- Motion. Twerk ; Miley ; The year of the butt ; Reclamation -- Conclusion

"Whether we love them or hate them, think they're sexy, think they're strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts. It is a body part unique to humans, critical to our evolution and survival, and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex, desire, comedy, shame. A woman's butt, in particular, is forever being assessed, criticized, and objectified, from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter, essayist, and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out."--