Elizabeth Arden: Beauty Empire Builder

Children's Literature

The story of Florence Nightingale Graham's perseverance and success in turning herself into Elizabeth Arden and establishing a beauty empire makes fascinating reading. She was born in Canada on New Year's Eve, 1878, and named after the nurse who had transformed the profession of caring for the ill. Her mother died when she was six and life was difficult, so although the young Florence often claimed, "I want to be the richest little woman in the world," she decided to go to nursing school. There she found that nursing was not for her, but she did take an interest in a medicinal salve a young biochemist was trying to develop for treating skin blemishes, and this determined her future course. The book gives a great deal of information about the times and the few opportunities available for women in that era. The comprehensive background coverage makes all the more amazing Florence's transformation into Elizabeth, a hardheaded, determined businesswoman whose personal relationships foundered as she single-mindedly pursued her goal to become a rich and successful pioneer in the new field of beauty aids and services. Few of the photographs illustrating the book are of Elizabeth Arden, nonetheless, her biography is an engrossing entry in the "Giants of American Industry" series. 2001 (orig. 1989), Blackbirch Press, $21.95. Ages 10 up. Reviewer: Carolyn Mott Ford