The Barbie Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns Forty [Paperback]

A fascinating and poignant collection of twenty essays and five poems exploring Barbie's forty years of hateful, lovely, disastrous, glorious influence on us all from award-winning authors such as Jane Smiley, Meg Wolitzer, and Carol Shields.

To some she's a collectible, to others she's trash. Since her creation in 1959 by Ruth Handler, Barbie has become a worldwide icon and an extremely divisive topic. To some she represents an inspiration to young girls, to others she has only wreaked havoc on feminist progress. No other tiny shoulders have ever had to carry the weight of such affection and derision, and no other book has ever paid this notorious little place of plastic her due.

The twenty-three authors who contributed to this book—including Meg Wolitzer, Jane Smiley, Carol Shields, Anna Quindlen, and Ann duCille—explore how Barbie has affected their lives, and delve into the numerous controversies Barbie has faced over past decades and the complex issues of race and conformity in the toy industry.

Whether you adore her or abhor her,The Barbie Chronicleswill have you looking at her in ways you never imagined.Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of seven novels. Her short fiction, articles, and essays have been published in anthologies as well as in numerous national magazines and newspapers. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.Introduction

When I first sat down in the summer of 1997 to pen a piece about Barbie, I imagined writing a wry, affectionate defense of the sexy little doll who seemed to be getting so much bad press. Little did I know how Barbie had changed in the three decades since she and I had parted company. I didn't really understand the fantastic impact she had made on American culture during those years nor the maelstrom of controversy that her mere name seemed to elicit. But the publication of my essay on the back page ofThe New York Times Magazinefilled me in quickly: Barbie had been bls