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Older books are expected to have certain prejudices built-in, if they don't they feel wrong ... although this can beg the question of whether we are imposing our own expectations, rather than what actually existed. After all, what do we actually know except what we've read, and what we've read always passes through our own prejudices. It can become convoluted and confusing, which is where we come to rely on those that have made more detailed studies of the times and texts in question.
But you don't have to go back 100 years or more to find prejudice. In that discussion about Dorothy Sayers' "Whose Body?", I brought up my reaction to Clive Cussler's "The Mediterranean Caper" - and the fact is that pretty much all of his books are obviously sexist (I can't really speak to the co-written books). What I find curious is that I did not notice this so much back when I first read them, but it really stands out now - and since the books haven't changed, obviously I have.
And this, I think, is largely the point. We are a constantly changing society, and it can be very interesting to read texts (both older and no so old) to see just how much we are changing - as a society and in ourselves. It can also be an education: find "classics" (not necessarily older) and read them, and then read deconstructions or review notes for these books and see how much you missed.
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