Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness -- and Liberalism -- to the Women of America » (Reprint)

Myrna Blyth was the editor-in-chief of Ladies' Home Journal from 1981 to 2002 and was also in charge of the business side of the magazine for more than a dozen years. She was also founding editor-in-chief of More magazine. She has won numerous awards as an editor and magazine executive, including the Magazine Publishers of America's Henry Johnson Fisher Award and the Publishing Executive of the Year Award from Advertising Age. Before joining Ladies' Home Journal, Blyth was the executive editor of Family Circle. She's married, has two sons, and lives in New York City.

The Provocative New York Times Bestseller

"[A]n exposé that will almost certainly wipe those big smiles off the faces of Katie, Diane, Barbara, and a few other important divas in the world of big-time journalism."---Bernard Goldberg, author of Bias

Spin Sisters tell you what to think, and how you feel. They tell today's women that they are frazzled, frumpy, and fearful and that their lives are too tough for them to handle.

Spin Sisters are the women at the top of the media heap, the Girls' Club who lunch, party, and weekend together, support the same left-of-center causes, and think alike.

Spin Sisters present their favorite celebrities' liberal messages with a halo of approval even though you may not share those liberal attitudes or values.

Spin Sisters think all women should agree with them because they are sure they know what's good for you---even better than you may know yourself!

"Ann Coulter fans: This one is for you."---Kirkus Reviews

Publishers Weekly

"The story that began as an exciting movement for equal rights and morphed into a wonderful celebration of opportunity today has become a depressing, discouraging gains-means-pain tale of woe sold to women readers as the grim new reality of their lives," writes Blyth, editor-in-chief of Ladies' Home Journal from 1981 to 2002 and former publishing director of More, in this juicy insider's look into the $7-billion-a-year industry of women's magazines. These glossy rags, she says, peddle the message that women are the unhappy victims of a stress-filled world: they are too fat and too wrinkled, prone to disease, and overworked by their jobs and families. And, according to Blythe in this mea culpa, all the fear-mongering is underlined by the subtle, liberal message that more government will alleviate women's problems. The media divas who run what she calls this "Girls' club," from Harper's Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey to Katie Couric, are out of touch with middle-class American women, Blyth charges: they command the print and broadcast worlds from their sleek Manhattan offices, pay indulgently for an army of domestic help at home and, even worse, vote overwhelmingly Democratic. If her conclusion is a stretch and her critique of colleagues often catty and vituperative, many of Blyth's jabs at women's media seem to have merit. She challenges what she sees as the assumption by much of the media that all women think alike and are interested only in diet, fashion, sex appeal or stress relief. Whether this superficial content is the fault of liberals or conservatives or whether it's the market simply feeding demand remains less clear. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.