When reviewing the great figures of feminism, few would call to mind the creator of the Cosmo Girl, but as Jennifer Scanlon argues in her fascinati...
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Oct 04, 2009
Karen
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I had never heard of Helen Gurley Brown before and as someone who came of age in the 1990s, I had spent very little time thinking about feminism or the role of women in the US other than to occasionally feel grateful that it was never an issue for me. This book inspired me to really examine some of my views of the past and present. The basic question is whether Helen Gurley Brown (author of Sex and the Single Girl and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan for 32 years) is truly a feminist or not.
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Jul 30, 2009
Mary
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If you're a fan of Mad Men, this is the perfect book to read before the new season starts. Author of Sex and the Single Girl (1962), and longtime editor of Cosmo, HGB comes out a cross between Joan and Peggy. She's part the adventurous sexpot who manages to negotiate affairs in the workplace, manipulate the boys' game to suit herself, and still come out looking professional. And she's part the driven, hard-working, creative career girl, hoping to get to the corner office by virtue of her brai
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Aug 15, 2010
Kristen
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As a straightforward biography, this was good, and it was amazing to see how Helen Gurley Brown came from nothing to become a writer and the editor of a major magazine. That being said, I found I wanted much more critical analysis of Helen Gurley Brown's feminism, but what I got was Scanlon quoting her (again and again and again) as Gurley Brown says, "no really, I'm a feminist, Cosmopolitan is a feminist magazine, seriously" which was not enough.
I also wanted to read more More...
I also wanted to read more More...
Apr 27, 2009
Ann
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For those of us that spent high school/college in the 70's and 80's, this book is a must read about a fascinating woman at the forefront of the "woman's lib" movement. Love her or hate her (I love her) it's an interesting view of the times and what made her so successful. It does read a bit too much like a doctoral thesis for me, but so fun to revisit the issues and see how far we've come (or not, as the case may be). She stood up to rabid feminists, (who still deny they set the mov
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Jul 15, 2009
Jennifer
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Helen Gurley Brown is more interesting than the book itself. The book's thesis is encapsulated in this sentence: "Helen Gurley Brown...invited in to feminism another important but often invisible group, working-class women, largely but by no means exclusively white, whose goals included financial independence, the freedom to engage in sexual activity outside of marriage, and the enjoyment of, rather than a rejection of, the fruits of capitalism. Interesting thesis, and one which Scanlon pro
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Nov 09, 2009
Carol
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Helen Gurley Brown is the "inventor" of the Cosmo Girl from Cosmopolitan magazine and author of 1962's book "Sex and the Single Girl." Practically everyone knows that, but what you might not know is that Helen Gurley Brown had a great deal to do with the rise of feminism. The author contrasts her life with Betty Friedan (writer of "The Feminine Mystique") since they both are contemporaries. Brown represented the single (and underpaid) uneducated woman; Friedan repre
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Sep 30, 2009
Lambeam
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This book is an academic treatise mysteriously packaged as a best seller. We have 200 pages of endless minutia on the life of HGB plus 40 pages of footnotes. We learn what clubs she joined in high school, about her acne, her weight and told (twice) that she was a thrifty while her husband was a big tipper. Far too much information. While the author makes a case that HGB was a feminist in a way - encouraging women to find self worth through work (along the lines of Betty Friedan)and - more th
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Sep 27, 2009
Gail
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This book should have been a long Vanity Fair article. Once you know she was for some, a feminist ahead of her time or in the eyes of others, retrograde and damaging to the women's movement, that's it.
no juicy gossip here, as it's a biography and not an autobiography and she hasn't really interviewed the author, but gone over her personal papers on file at smith college. I wouldn't recommend it, but some interesting discussion of the history of the feminist movement, and the differences More...
no juicy gossip here, as it's a biography and not an autobiography and she hasn't really interviewed the author, but gone over her personal papers on file at smith college. I wouldn't recommend it, but some interesting discussion of the history of the feminist movement, and the differences More...
Sep 01, 2009
judy
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I hate to admit it but Scanlon's take on Gurley Brown as a feminist pioneer rings true. At the time I didn't think of her as a sister but after reading Scanlon I see that I was hung up on feminist orthodoxy. Gurley Brown does deserve recognition and I'm delighted that she is getting it while she is still alive (84?). The positive and negative here is that the author is an academic. Her analysis is superb but, sadly, the book isn't fun. As hard as Gurley Brown worked (and still does) she is the
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Sep 13, 2009
Kristen
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This would be a great choice for an ambitious book club, because I spent a lot of time going "Yes, but..." and frustrated that there was no one around to actually discuss it with. I did read Sex and the Single Girl about a year ago. The academic defending-a-thesis tone isn't too heavy, although it leads to some distractingly odd (ivory tower?) statements (by the author, not by Brown) about things like why women dye their hair, what is a healthy daily calorie count, and what a grain ele
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Feb 10, 2010
Lacey N.
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I have never read an issue of Cosmopolitan. Still, Cosmo is a reckoning force in pop culture, no less than the woman at the helm for more than thirty years: Helen Gurley Brown.
Was Brown a keen entrepreneur who knew how to exploit the earned confidences of women who read her magazine? According to Jennifer Scanlon, a professor of gender and women’s studies at Bowdoin College and author of BAD GIRLS GO EVERYWHERE: THE LIFE OF HELEN GURLEY BROWN, while Brown worked hard and had a defin More...
Was Brown a keen entrepreneur who knew how to exploit the earned confidences of women who read her magazine? According to Jennifer Scanlon, a professor of gender and women’s studies at Bowdoin College and author of BAD GIRLS GO EVERYWHERE: THE LIFE OF HELEN GURLEY BROWN, while Brown worked hard and had a defin More...
Aug 07, 2011
An interesting biography of an interesting, talented and spirited woman: longtime Cosmo editor Helen Gurley Brown. I found the dialogue around feminism thought-provoking, particularly Helen's identification of herself as a feminist, and Cosmo as a feminist magazine, despite some strong views to the contrary from other feminists. She is an interesting character, and her story is instructive. A piece of history.
Jun 08, 2009
Sonal
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Helen Gurley Brown has had an amazing career and really impacted women's issues even before she was the editor of Cosmo. This book was written more like a thesis or research paper and it didn't do much to humanize a fascinating woman well ahead of her time. It was interesting to read how Helen's adolescence shaped who she became and the choices she makes but the book just came across as too clinical.
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Jul 14, 2009
Angela
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I think Helen Gurley Brown is absolutely fascinating. Only in the U.S., can someone grow up in "hillbilly" Arkansas, move to LA, work hard, become a trailblazing author, and then an enormously successful magazine editor.
Jun 13, 2011
Christin
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Gurley Brown, longstanding editor of Cosmo, authorized this impeccably researched biography. Take it from this non-Cosmo gal: A must-read for understanding modern womanhood.
Jul 03, 2009
Kathy
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Hard reading but interesting history of women's rights. Tho I'm not a great fan of HGB, I enjoyed learning of her early background.
Sep 13, 2009
Mereke
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Whether you find HGB inspiring or uninspiring, and I'm not sure which camp I'm in myself, this book reads like a college thesis that no one bothered to edit. The author, a clear fan of HGB, includes every mundane detail of HBG's life (never once calling her anything other than her complete and full name "Helen Gurley Brown") and then just repeats and repeats and repeats her thesis until you're so sick of it, you can barely soldier on to the next paragraph. I suspect it will make for
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Jun 13, 2009
Laine
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Dense (and poorly written) bio of a free thinker. What a woman!
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Jul 09, 2010
Amy
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not bad...guess i was hoping for something juicier and less academic but maybe that's because i read it on the beach.
Mar 09, 2010
Kristina
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This book could have been so much better if the author had actually dove into the story, rather than dog paddling around in generalizations.
Jun 16, 2009
Alison
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I have a deeper appreciation for Helen Gurley Brown and "second-wave" feminists.
Jul 19, 2009
Katherine
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I think that Jennifer Scanlon successfully makes the argument that HGB was a feminist, although I continue to believe that she was a capitalist above all. Still, this book is a fascinating look at the life of a very fascinating lady. I enjoyed reading it with Sex and the Single Girl and would suggest doing the same.
Apr 26, 2010
Darcie
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One of the best biographies I've read. Seriously! More academic than the title lets on, the book incorporates traditional biographic-style material into the larger story of feminism as it unfolded during Helen Gurley Brown's life. Very interesting.
Jun 08, 2009
K
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more about sex-positive pro-cap feminism than a straight bio of HGB. She comes off very well.
May 22, 2011
Jamie
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So inspiring. I learned so much about Helen Gurley Brown and her life by reading this book that I found myself bringing her up in casual conversation. A well-researched portrait of my new professional idol.
Jul 12, 2009
Sandy
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Hidden Forest Book Club (HFBC) Do not agree with her philosphy of life but found some details interesting. I found the writing style a bit dry - a thesis maybe?
Jan 20, 2010
Cheri
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Helen Gurley Brown had an interesting life and apparently few regrets. Her take on affairs with married men is contrary to mine, but it served her well.
Dec 21, 2011
Lynn
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Disappointing. Read it for my book review group. Hoped it would have been better.
