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Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown, the Woman Behind Cosmopolitan Magazine Paperback – August 31, 2010

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3.5 out of 5 stars 22 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (August 31, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0143118129
  • ISBN-13: 978-0143118121
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe Most Fabulous Feminist
By Hawley Roddick on April 13, 2009
Format: Hardcover
Helen Gurley Brown is a "bad girl" in the very best sense. She built her spectacular career on challenging the status quo, especially for women who had jobs outside the home and were expected to respect the limits of the glass ceiling pressing down on their heads.

Jennifer Scanlon's revealing biography portrays Helen as a pioneer feminist who not only encouraged young women to enjoy themselves in and out of bed but also supported safe and legal abortion, equal pay, and successful careers based on solid achievements.

At the same time, Helen could be controversial. For instance, she was not opposed to single women having affairs with married men who could help their careers. And she had a bit of a fetish about staying ultra-thin. (I know this well because I wrote "The Dieter's Notebook" column for Cosmo for several years.)

Yet because Helen kept her fingers on the pulse of a much larger group of women than did high-profile feminist leaders with less room for men in their lives, she expanded feminism. She was the one helping women to move forward while still enjoying their lovers and husbands as well as their own good looks and their rewarding careers.

Carrie Bradshaw and her friends are at least as much the daughters of Helen Gurley Brown as of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. Dare I suggest that so, in important ways, is the chic, lively, accomplished Michele Obama? Read the book and decide for yourself.
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2.0 out of 5 starsNot what I expected
By Allison K. on June 13, 2009
Format: Hardcover
Having worked in the magazine industry, I find HGB fascinating. This book, however, wasn't for me. I don't want to take away from the author's accomplishment; judging by the number of end notes, the author read every shred of information saved in HGB's papers. The book reads like a thesis on HGB's contribution to the women's movement and how she was the original Candace Bushnell/"Sex in the City" woman. I was hoping for something more about her as a person and magazine legend and how she got from point A to point B.
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4.0 out of 5 starsLots of research and insight
By Dr. Cathy Goodwin TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on November 22, 2009
Format: Hardcover
I saw this book sitting on the library shelf and then memories flooded back: the first few issues of Cosmo were so controversial. We'd hear people say, "Nobody in New York reads Cosmo; it's just a fantasy for young women in the boonies." I remember when we had the big discussion about the Cosmo centerfold. Now it's like, "Who cares?"

The book jacket identifies Jennifer Scanlon as a women's studies professor, so it's not surprising to find meticulously referenced details of every aspect of Helen Gurley Brown's life. For ordinary readers, these details will be way too much. I got bogged down in the background of Helen's childhood.

A major premise behind this book is that Helen Gurley Brown deserves attention as part of the history of women, at least in the US. Yet it's hard to see her in the same realm as, say Gloria Steinem. Steinem created her own role in the women's movement; Helen Gurley Brown held a job. The debate between the two now seems quaint and irrelevant. I wasn't even aware that it was going on at the time.

What comes through most is Helen's drive and ambition. She had a true "whatever it takes" attitude, even when the "whatever" croosed the line for many women. In the end, the real story seems less about her contribution to feminism than about how she managed to go from a hardscdrabble Arkansas background to a glittering New York professional career.
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4.0 out of 5 starsGood book -- 2nd half is better than first
By jeffsdate on May 25, 2009
Format: Hardcover
I agree with the reviewer who said that much of this reads like a women's studies thesis, and that the first half of the book was hard to get through and a bit dry. (Do we really need yet another summary of Betty Friedan's contributions, and of the sexual repression and double-standard of the 50s that HGB was reacting to?) I would also add that much of the first part of the book was simply a rehash of stuff that HGB said in Sex and the Single Girl -- so I kept saying to myself, "Yeah, yeah, I already know this!", and wondered whether I'd even want to finish it. (HGB has already written so extensively about her life that, in some ways, a bio by someone else is a bit superfluous!) However, the book improved a lot in the second half - after HGB became editor of Cosmo. Ms. Scanlon has a lot of interesting insights about why HGB did so well with Cosmo, the politics of the magazine industry, and other things. The book does suffer from the fact that HGB did not participate in it. But on the whole, a competent and balanced job -- certainly not a "dishing-the-dirt" kind of book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAhead of her time.
By S. Rogers on June 6, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Before Mary Richards and Ann Marie (of That Girl fame), before Gloria Steinem and Candace Bushnell, there was a different sort of champion for the single girl: Helen Gurley Brown.

You may know her as the long-time editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, but as Jennifer Scanlon recounts in her very entertaining biography of HGB, Bad Girls Go Everywhere, she's also a prolific writer, media maven, and feminist (of sorts) that was way ahead of her time.

I picked up Scanlon's book after reading about it in my college alumni newsletter (Scanlon is Professor of Gender and Women's Studies at Bowdoin College), thinking it would be a fun, "Summer" read. What surprised me was that it was much more academic in nature - providing fascinating insights into both gender roles, the media landscape, and pop culture in the 1960s - but still eminently readable, like one of Carrie Bradshaw's columns.

What I found so interesting:

The paperback wasn't introduced until 1939. Before that, few people owned books, as hard covers were too expensive. The paperback democratized reading in America! I'm now interested to read another book Scanlon cites in her notes, Two Bit Culture: the Paperbacking of America.

Helen Gurley came from humble beginnings in Arkansas, which taught her to live frugally and use her - ahem - feminine wiles to get what she wanted in life. She was (and is) a huge advocate for working, independent women.

She spent years as a secretary (one of the few professional roles available to women in the 1950s) before her employer at ad shop Foote Cone Belding noticed her writing skills an made her an advertising copywriter.

She played the field for years, celebrating her singledom and advocating for other women to follow suit.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

It was as promised.

Published 9 months ago by Bess
2.0 out of 5 starsThe Facts are Here but No Heart

This author didn't do much other than repeat, repeat, repeat the comments for which Brown is famous. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Sandi Kay Wheatley
5.0 out of 5 starsWithout Helen Gurley Brown, there would never be Samantha, Carrie,...

I loved this book by Jennifer Scanlon. With hard work, savvy and a couple of lucky breaks, Helen became a pioneer of the second wave of feminism, although generally unacknowledged. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Niki Wilson, Pretty Page Turner
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

fluff.

Published 21 months ago by olena
2.0 out of 5 starsSo-So Book

So-So book about her. I have read her own books and other interviews. I could not get through this one. If you are a fan of her skip.

Published on November 30, 2013 by Halle's Mom
5.0 out of 5 starsexcellent

Jennifer Scanlon is a talented writer and a dillegent researcher. Her book is an excellent portrayal of an iconic woman. kudos.

Published on December 4, 2012 by Kathleen Flood
5.0 out of 5 starsAll Good

I was very happy to find this book, at a good price, in great condition. They shipped right away and I am very happy. All good.
SG

Published on August 19, 2011 by SGarratt
1.0 out of 5 starsTedious book about a terrific woman

Jennifer Scanlon has created something remarkable in "Bad Girls Go Everywhere": an unreadable book about an unforgettable woman. Read more

Published on February 19, 2011 by Stan Jones
3.0 out of 5 starsBad girls go everywhere

As in 'good girls go to heaven ....' Helen Gurley Brown was editor of Cosmopolitan and author of Sex and the Single Girl. Read more

Published on March 30, 2010 by Seattle Hiker
2.0 out of 5 starsA Thesis, Not a Book

The cover and publisher's blurb for this book certainly make it seem interesting and exciting. The book, itself, however, was fairly boring. Read more

Published on March 20, 2010 by Royal Fan

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