Enter Helen

In 1965, Helen Gurley Brown-best known for her groundbreaking 1962 manifesto Sex and the Single Girl -took over the ailing Cosmopolitan magazine. Under her stewardship, it became one of the most bankable brands on the planet, with 64 editions published in 34 languages and distributed in more than 100 countries, and one of the most revolutionary. At a time when women's magazines were instructing housewives on how to make the perfect casserole, Brown reimagined Cosmo for the single girl next door: a hard-working, sex-loving woman, who didn't need to be married with children to be happy.

The face of Brown's message was her own; she walked the walk, having forged a glamorous media career out of a bleak Ozarks upbringing. Drawing from her personal letters, documents, and writings, as well as new interviews with former colleagues and friends, Brooke Hauser focuses on Helen's most transformative years at Cosmo, splicing her narrative of that time with insightful flashbacks to chart Brown's madcap journey from the Ozarks to Los Angeles.

Set mostly against the backdrop of New York City during the Sexual Revolution and the Women's Liberation Movement, ENTER HELEN tells the dramatic, cinematic story of an icon who bucked the trend to define her destiny on her own terms, and urged future generations of woman to do the same. The math is simple: Without Helen Gurley Brown, there would be no Sex and the City, no Girls. She was the voice of a generation that both revered and rejected her, and the catalyst for the still-ongoing national dialogue about women, sex, work, and having it all-changing the industry, the culture, and the world.

Caroline Baum's Review

Was there ever a woman with more ambition than Helen Gurley Brown, the woman who turned Cosmo magazine into a bible for young women? Her life story makes for a very entertaining gossipy read, but Hauser makes this biography a richer experience by amplifying the context in which Brown was able to turn Cosmo into one of the 20th century's most successful magazines.

No one interested in how feminism came into being at the same time as the glossy how to get your man manual will want to miss this comprehensively researched account. Most fascinating is the relationship between Brown and feminist Gloria Steinem. But it's also fascinating to learn how Brown's marriage to a Hollywood senior executive was a real partnership in which her husband was her absolute ally. Brown's obsession with remaking herself physically becomes highly neurotic, and her inability to form true friendships signals a very incomplete and flawed personality, but there's no denying that she knew how to give a certain kind of young woman exactly what she wanted when it came to talking about sex.

About the Author

Brooke Hauser has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Allure, among other publications. She is the author of The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, a winner of the American Library Association's 2012 Alex Award. She lives in Western Massachussetts with her family, and teaches nonfiction writing at Smith College.