Ill-conceived History: An Analysis of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Pill

Abstract

The fiftieth anniversary of the pill was an international commemorative event celebrated in 2010, and this thesis is an analysis of the use of history within this anniversary literature. Within the fiftieth anniversary, commemorators relied heavily on the idea of the past in order to make contemporary narratives of the pill appear less controversial to a popular audience. This supressed the polyvalent nature of the pill and resulted in an extremely narrow presentation of this history. This thesis analyses these commemorations as they occurred in the United States and Australia, concluding that this anniversary demonstrated an expedient use of public history.