Not Pretty Enough, Gerri Hirshey
Not Pretty Enough, Gerri Hirshey
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Not Pretty Enough
The Unlikely Triumph of Helen Gurley Brown

Author: Gerri Hirshey

Narrator: Eliza Foss

Unabridged: 18 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/12/2016


Synopsis

A bold and deeply researched biography of a complicated cultural icon

When Helen Gurley Brown published Sex and the Single Girl in 1962, it sold more than two million copies in just three weeks, presaging the self-help boom and helping to usher in the unapologetic self-affirmation of second wave feminism. Brown declared that it was okay, even imperative, to enjoy sex outside of marriage; that equal rights for women should extend to the bedroom; that meaningful work outside the home was essential for a woman's security and self-esteem. The book catapulted Brown into national renown, cementing her status as a complex and divisive feminist personality. And the ripple effects of her outspokenness about sex and her emphasis on friendships between women can still be seen today, on TV shows like Sex and the City and Girls, and in the magazine world as well.When she died in 2012, her obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times, which noted that "the look of women's magazines today . . . is due in no small part to her influence." She may not always have been loved--but she was always talked about.

Brown's life story--a classic American rags-to-riches tale--is just as juicy as her controversial books. In this wonderful new biography, the writer and reporter Gerri Hirshey traces Brown's path from deep in the Arkansas Ozarks to her wild single years in Los Angeles, from the New York magazine world to her Hollywood adventures with her film producer husband. Along the way she became the highest-paid female ad copywriter on the West Coast, and transformed Hearst's failing literary magazine, Cosmopolitan, into the female-oriented global juggernaut it is today. Full of firsthand accounts of Brown from some of her closest friends, including Liz Smith, Gloria Vanderbilt, Barbara Walters, and more, as well as those whose paths she brushed--her 1939 prom date, a sorority sister from business school, Cosmo cover girls like Beverly Johnson and Brooke Shields--and writing from the woman herself, Not Pretty Enough is a vital biography that shines new light on the life of one of the most incomparable and indelible women of the twentieth century.

About The Author

For more than thirty years, Gerri Hirshey has worked as a features writer, columnist, reporter, and essayist at The Washington Post, The New York Times MagazineVanity FairGQ, Esquire, and New York, among others. She has also written for O, The Oprah Magazine, More,The NationFood & WineLadies' Home Journal, and Parade. Beginning in the 1980s, Hirshey was the first female contributing editor toRolling Stone--she wrote celebrity profiles of numerous artists, musicians, actors, authors, and fashion designers. She is the author of several books, including Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music, which is now in its seventh reprint incarnation, and We Gotta Get Outta This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock. Hirshey lives in New York City with her husband, Mark Zwonitzer, a writer and documentary filmmaker; they have two young adult children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Skip on July 23, 2016

As a white male of Medicare age, I may not seem the ideal candidate to review “Not Pretty Enough,” by Gerri Hirshey, the first in-depth biography of Helen Gurley Brown, the best-selling author and legendary editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine. But this is personal. Having spent a week with Helen as her......more

Goodreads review by Randee on December 16, 2016

The Martha Stewart and Helen Gurley Brown's of the world interest me a great deal. In other words, women who made it in a man's world who came from poverty and had no family connections to help them rise. They did it the old fashioned way by working hard, ambition, determination, talent and more tha......more

Goodreads review by Jenny on November 30, 2016

I feel sorry for the reviewers who found this wonderfully crafted biography"dry" or "too long." I loved the way I could sink into it and vicariously experience the 90 years that made up the very rich life of its subject, a ruthlessly sexual antiheroine whose larger than life story would be unbelieva......more

Goodreads review by Victoria on May 21, 2017

A thorough telling of the life story an iconic women.......more

Goodreads review by Amelia on July 24, 2016

An intriguing look into a time when women were slowly gaining freedom in their personal lives and the woman who helped change things for single women of her day. I would have given a higher rating but this felt too drawn out, with things that could have been summarized in sentences, stretched out to......more