Kindle Nation is a pluralistic society, and it very likely that there will be little consensus among our citizenry as to whether or not we should be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the FDA’s approval of the birth control pill for contraceptive use. (Given the fact that our Kindle Nation citizen surveys have revealed that Boomers make up a very large percentage of Kindle owners, it’s entirely possible that the news of this anniversary will simply make many of us feel a little older.)
But Time Magazine and Amazon are apparently celebrating the anniversary with the roll-out of a Kindle exclusive e-book Love, Sex, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill: A Brief History of Birth Control, newly available today for $5.59 in the Kindle Store:
As iPadMania continues, Amazon’s business strategy continues to involve making sure that the Kindle for iPad App — like its other apps for the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the BlackBerry, the PC, the Mac, and the Kindle itself — offers access to a much larger selection including lots of exclusive content.
Here’s the guts of Amazon’s news release this morning:
SEATTLE, Apr 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that TIME magazine has released the short e-book by the magazine’s executive editor, Nancy Gibbs, “Love, Sex, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill,” exclusively in the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore). The e-book is being published to coincide with TIME magazine’s May 3 issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of the FDA’s approval of the birth control pill for contraceptive use. It will be exclusive to the Kindle Store for one year.
Customers can download this book from the Kindle Store for $5.59, and can read it on their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac and iPad.
The Kindle Store now includes over 500,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New York TimesBestsellersand New Releases. Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle, including titles such as “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Treasure Island.”
“We’re happy to be able to offer our customers this exclusive e-book from TIME magazine’s executive editor, Nancy Gibbs, in the Kindle Store,” said Melissa Kirmayer, Director, Kindle Content. “Timed to the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, ‘Love, Sex, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill’ is a timely and important addition to the Kindle Store, available for our customers to download and start reading in less than 60 seconds.”
“Love, Sex, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill” is expanded from a May 3 TIME cover story on the birth control pill. The book traces the invention of the pill half a century ago by its unlikely pioneers–from the early feminists looking for a way to free women from the fears of frequent childbirth to a prominent Catholic doctor who was seeking a treatment for infertility and instead found a guarantee of it. It traces the social upheavals that coincided with the pill’s arrival and asks which ones it actually caused. It follows the unfolding attitudes of women toward the first form of contraception that they could totally control–and the backlash in recent years among social conservatives who once welcomed the pill as a blessing and now challenge it as a threat. And it explores the social, political and philosophical issues that men and women face when considering the most private questions of family life.
Gibbs is the executive editor of TIME. She has written more than 100 cover stories, including eight “Person of the Year” essays, as well as dozens of stories on the past three presidential campaigns. Gibbs has won several awards for her journalism, including the National Magazine Award for a single-topic issue from the American Society of Magazine Editors, Time Inc.’s Luce Award for 2002 Story of the Year and a New York Press Club Award in the Anticipated News category. She currently writes the back page essay for TIME.
“Nancy’s original research was so rich we decided to publish the unabridged version of her article and make her complete research available in e-book form exclusively for Kindle,” said Richard Stengel, managing editor, TIME. “We’re glad TIME readers and Kindle customers can now discover and read ‘Love, Sex, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill,’ available only in the Kindle Store.”
TIME magazine
is also available to purchase as both a single issue and subscription in the Kindle Periodicals Store.
and of 
, suggests an instance of reverse windowing that is unlikely to be upsetting to Kindle readers.
. Amazon has, at this point, discounted 
.
, with illustrations by Alex McVey. The product page for the Kindle edition shows that the Kindle’s text-to-speech feature is enabled for Blockade Billy.
.