Business Builders in Cosmetics

Children's Literature

This interesting series of nine books about leaders in American industries over the last century are designed to inform and inspire students of business or those contemplating career choices. This edition highlights pioneers of the cosmetic industry. Once viewed as a jaded practice, enhancing body appearance by applying creams and paints is as old as history itself, but did not gain popular appeal until the advent of advertising around the 1920's. From that time on, the cosmetic and skin care industry has exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry. Well-researched biographies of seven innovators are featured in this 160 page book. Most of the names of these pioneers are recognizable and include Helena Rubinstein, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, and the most recent innovator, Anita Roddick of Body Shop fame. Each person had a new twist to add to the mix of science and Madison Avenue. Black and white photos add interest to these American dream stories of hard work and creativity. A glossary, index and bibliography are included. 2004, The Oliver Press, Ages 12 up.
—Meredith Kiger, Ph.D.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-Kent provides a serviceable look at the development of the cosmetics industry through the stories of seven key entrepreneurs: David McConnell (Avon), Helena Rubenstein, Elizabeth Arden, Max Factor, Charles Revson (Revlon), Est e Lauder, and Anita Roddick (The Body Shop). The introduction sets the stage with a history of cosmetics, beginning with Queen Nefertiti, and tracing the changing perception of makeup from demeaning women to empowering them. A sidebar on Madam C. J. Walker, who created skin-care and hair products for African-American women, is especially intriguing. The subsequent chapters explore the drives, talents, and occasional eccentricities of these empire builders, whose financial success often came at the expense of their personal lives. Sidebars include Mary Kay, Maybelline, Clinique, Gillette, and other related enterprises. The margins are full of interesting tidbits, as well as definitions of words used in the text. The author's writing is clear and lively, and she brings her subjects to multidimensional life. Well-captioned, black-and-white photographs provide glimpses at these makeup moguls, their products, and samples of advertising. Libraries needing additional material on this specialized topic might look to biographies such as Nancy Shuker's Elizabeth Arden (Blackbirch, 2001) or A'Lelia Perry Bundles's Madam C. J. Walker (Chelsea, 1991).-Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.