Buy used: $39.82
$3.99 delivery October 5 - 11. Details
Or fastest delivery September 29 - October 3. Details
Used: Good | Details
Sold by 📚 UpWard Bound Books L.L.C.
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Book is in Good condition with little to no wear. Pages are free of markings.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Used (3) from
$39.82  + $3.99 shipping
Have one to sell?
Sell on Amazon
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the Author

M. G. Lord
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll Paperback – March 1, 2004

by M. G. Lord (Author, Introduction)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 30 ratings
See all formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Paperback
$39.82
— $39.82
Previous page
  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Walker Books
  4. Publication date
    March 1, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    5.52 x 0.98 x 8.24 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0802776949
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0802776945
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Lord shrewdly uses the evolution of Barbie as a touchstone to chart the evolution of our modern culture.” ―People

“Fascinating ... compelling .... A seriously wry, thoroughly researched and totally enlightened look at the doll that most of us either love or love to hate.” ―Newsday

“Scathing, hilarious ... consistently informative and amusing.” ―San Francisco Chronicle

“Its mix of social history, psychoanalytical insights, and the Mattel marketing schemes that evoke them is told with wit, curiosity, and wry photos.” ―Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Terrific .... A book that was dying to be written .... A crisp, often witty love story of American pop culture.” ―The Boston Globe

“The author's enthusiasm is infectious and she writes with considerable wit .... Her subject inspires passion.” ―The New York Times

From the Back Cover

Since Barbie's introduction in 1959, her impact on baby boomers has been revolutionary. Far from being a toy designed by men to enslave women, she was a toy invented by women to teach women what-- for better or worse-- was expected of them. In telling Barbie's fascinating story, cultural critic and investigative journalist M. G. Lord, herself a first-generation Barbie owner, has written a provocative, zany, occasionally shocking book that will change how you look at the doll and the world.

"Fascinating ... compelling .... A seriously wry, thoroughly researched and totally enlightened look at the doll that most of us either love or love to hate."-- Newsday

"Scathing, hilarious ... consistently informative and amusing."-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Its mix of social history, psychoanalytical insights, and the Mattel marketing schemes that evoke them is told with wit, curiosity, and wry photos."-- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Terrific .... A book that was dying to be written .... A crisp, often witty love story of American pop culture."-- The Boston Globe

"The author's enthusiasm is infectious and she writes with considerable wit .... Her subject inspires passion."-- The New York Times

M. G. Lord is an author and critic. Since 1995 she has been a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review and the New York Times Arts & Leisure section. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, Vogue, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and ARTnews. She lives in Los Angeles.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker Books (March 1, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802776949
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802776945
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.52 x 0.98 x 8.24 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 30 ratings

Important information

To report an issue with this product, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

M. G. Lord

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

M. G. Lord is a cultural critic and investigative journalist. She is the author of the widely praised books Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science, a family memoir about Cold War aerospace culture, and "Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll." Her latest book is "The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice."

“For MG Lord, it’s curvaceous, charismatic icons of femininity that hold her imagination hostage…What Lord did for Barbie, she now does for La Liz in ‘The Accidental Feminist’…Lord takes her readers on a chronological journey through the actress’s signal performances, analyzing each film with a theory scholar’s eye for telling detail, brightened with bloggerly brio, emotion, and use of the first person…When watching her significant films in succession, you see that, as Lord maintains, each serves as a cinematic Rorschach of social changes percolating through postwar society, in which Taylor stars as the protean blot…With ‘The Accidental Feminist,’ MG Lord makes the intriguing case that for Elizabeth Taylor, too much as never enough—not for the woman, not for the actress and not for the society that produced the theater of her life.” The New York Times

With Shannon Halwes, Lord is also co-writing the libretto for composer Laura Karpman's "One-Ten," an opera commissioned by the L. A. Opera about the 110 Freeway on its 70th anniversary. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review and that paper's Arts & Leisure section, and her work has also appeared in such publications as Travel + Leisure, Discover, Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The New Yorker. A graduate of Yale, Lord was for twelve years a syndicated political cartoonist and columnist based at Newsday. She teaches in the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
30 global ratings
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star 0% (0%) 0%
1 star 0% (0%) 0%

Top reviews from the United States

Josephine Ensign
4.0 out of 5 stars Complex and engaging
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2013
Verified Purchase
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Gabriella Sol
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
Helpful
 Report
Rosie
5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful and entertaining read
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2017
Verified Purchase
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
MyBee
5.0 out of 5 stars Good reading for a Barbie historian.
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
Helpful
 Report
Liisa L.
4.0 out of 5 stars This is the history of Barbie.
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2019
Verified Purchase
Helpful
 Report
PinkiePieCarousel
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is good!
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2013
Verified Purchase
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars As described
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Helpful
 Report
Belle
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2016
Verified Purchase
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Kristine Nawrot
5.0 out of 5 stars All about Barbie
Reviewed in Germany on January 20, 2014
Verified Purchase
Report