Spin Sisters

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.

Library Journal

Having spent over 20 years as the editor of Ladies' Home Journal, Blyth knows women's media from the inside out. This book is her effort to pull back the curtain on behind-the-scenes manipulation in the industry. She argues that women's magazines have a liberal bias and that they create a negative view of the world that focuses too much on the stress of womanhood and on defining women as victims. Blyth was herself a "media queen," but that does not keep her from dishing the dirt on her colleagues. She does not hesitate to name names, and her engaging writing style makes this a fun book to read. It is her chance to expose celebrities like Susan Sarandon and Rosie O'Donnell, who turn out to be not nearly as nice as their public personas would suggest. Underneath all the gossipy insider scoop, however, Blyth presents contradictory arguments when she tries to convince readers that magazines "mold the way women think about their lives and their world" and yet that real women are not "a bit like" the media portrayal. Luckily, most of us are not nearly as easy to manipulate as many media critics fear, so readers can enjoy this book even though they may not agree with the author's conclusions. Both public libraries and academic journalism collections will want to purchase. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/03.]-Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. Libs., Washington, DC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The liberal media is once again under attack from the right, but this time the attacker is an admitted former Spin Sister who has seen the error of her ways. Blyth, editor of Ladies' Home Journal for 20 years and founding editor in 1999 of MORE, a magazine for older women, argues that a powerful "sorority of journalists, television, publishing, and public relations executives" are having a damaging influence on American women. Effectively and insidiously, these Spin Sisters-among them Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, and Gail Collins-have been indoctrinating the women of America with negative messages, telling them that they lead unhappy, stress-filled lives, manipulating them to see themselves as victims in need of protection by big government. Celebrities are in on it too, e.g., Susan Sarandon and Rosie O'Donnell, and politicians, e.g., Hillary Clinton, and even fictional characters, such as C.J. Cregg of TV's West Wing. These ambitious and successful women, asserts Blyth, exhibit a mix of elitism and liberalism that is not reflected in the lives of ordinary middle-class American women, who share neither their lifestyles, their concerns, nor their political and moral views. The Spin Sisters take liberal positions on issues like abortion, gun control, gay rights, and environmental protection, Blyth notes, and they assume that their readers and viewers do too. Not true, says Blyth, who has a punchy style that favors loaded terms like "pampered," "smug," "slick, "shriek," and "whine," offers a gossipy, insider's view of the world she writes about, and has a well-honed knack for talking directly to the reader. You aren't really a lot like those elitist liberal Media Queens, sheexplains to the reader, implying, it seems, that a better likeness is to her, a nice, honest, right-wing conservative. What's clear is not only where she stands but that she knows a sound bite when she writes one. Ann Coulter fans: This one is for you. Agent: Richard Pine/Arthur Pine Associates

From the Publisher

"[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

"In a no-holds-barred account, Myrna Blyth advances the heretical notion that American women aren't as unhappy with their lives, their careers, and—-dare I say it?—-their husbands as our media make them out to be."—- William McGurn, chief editorial writer, The Wall Street Journal

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