"Told chronologically and chock full of truths, 'You're Not Pretty Enough' provides an example of how to be comfortable in your own skin and ultimately live a full life (even if you screw up, royally, along the way)."--P [4] of cover.

In Not Pretty Enough, Gerri Hirshey reconstructs the life of Helen Gurley Brown, the trailblazing editor of Cosmopolitan, whose daring career both recorded and led to a shift in the sexual and cultural politics of her time. When Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl first appeared in 1962, it whistled into buttoned-down America like a bombshell: Brown declared that it was okay— even imperative—for unmarried women to have and enjoy a sex life, and that equal rights for women should extend to the bedroom and the workplace. “How dare you?” thundered newspapers, radio hosts, and (mostly male) citizens. But more than two million women bought the book and hailed her as a heroine. Brown was also pilloried as a scarlet woman and a traitor to the women’s movement when she took over the failing Hearst magazine Cosmopolitan and turned it into a fizzy pink guidebook for “do-me” feminism. As the first magazine geared to the rising wave of single working women, it sold wildly. Today, more than 68 million young women worldwide are still reading some form of Helen Gurley Brown’s audacious yet comforting brand of self-help. “HGB” wasn’t the ideal poster girl for secondwave feminism, but she certainly started the conversation. Brown campaigned for women’s reproductive freedom and advocated skill and “brazenry” both on the job and in the boudoir—along with serial plastic surgery. When she died in 2012, her front-page obituary in the New York Times noted that though she succumbed at ninety, “parts of her were considerably younger.” Her life story is astonishing, from her roots in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, to her single-girl decade as a Mad Men–era copywriter in Los Angeles, which informed her first bestseller, to her years at the helm of Cosmopolitan. Helen Gurley Brown told her own story many times, but coyly, with plenty of camouflage. Here, for the first time, is the unvarnished and decoded truth about “how she did it”—from her comet-like career to “bagging” her husband of half a century, the movie producer David Brown. Full of firsthand accounts of HGB from many of her closest friends and rediscovered, little-known interviews with the woman herself, Gerri Hirshey’s Not Pretty Enough is a vital biography that shines new light on the life of one of the most vibrant, vexing, and indelible women of the twentieth century.

The 1962 blockbuster that took on “one of the most absurd (if universal) myths of our time: that every girl must be married” (The New York Times). Helen Gurley Brown, the iconic editor in chief of Cosmopolitan for thirty-two years, is considered one of the most influential figures of Second Wave feminism. Her first book sold millions of copies, became a cultural phenomenon, and ushered in a whole new way of thinking about work, men, and life. Feisty, fun, and totally frank, Sex and the Single Girl offers advice to unmarried women that is as relevant today as it was when it burst onto the scene in the 1960s. This spirited manifesto puts women—and what they want—first. It captures the exuberance, optimism, and independence that have influenced the lives of so many contemporary American women.

"Brown's life story-- a classic American rags-to-riches tale-- is just as juicy as her controversial books. In this...biography, the writer and reporter Gerri Hirshey traces Brown's path from deep in the Arkansas Ozarks to her wild single years in Los Angeles, from the New York magazine world to her Hollywood adventures with her film producer husband. Along the way she became the highest-paid female ad copywriter on the West Coast, and transformed Hearst's failing literary magazine, Cosmopolitan, into the female-oriented global juggernaut it is today."--

Am I Pretty Enough Yet? is a self-help book aimed at 13- to 18-year-old girls, designed to empower them as they navigate their teenage years and grow into young women. Inspired by the many girls she has worked with – and the numerous insecurities, fears and pressures they experience – Julia Armstrong has created a book which is pitched directly at teenagers. Candid and informal, it ranges across topics such as beauty, weight, celebrity culture, sex, social media and body hair. It will answer many of the questions teenage girls have and support them in dealing with the challenges of contemporary society. “Boys have many difficulties too but this book is for the girls, and the world they have to negotiate today is far harder than my own was and is some cause for concern. What is expected of them, of you, from all angles is for many unobtainable and for all unreasonable. It seems to me, that in many ways, girls have it harder than ever before.” Self-esteem is the most powerful tool a woman can have, but few young women are born with it. Many women, especially young girls, can feel that they are not good enough, not pretty enough or not slim enough. The goal of this book is to help remedy this, empowering young girls to look after and fortify their emotional well-being. Challenging modern stereotypes, it provides teenage girls with a guide on how to deal with the negative pressure from the media and peer groups and the pressure teenagers often put on themselves. Written by a teacher with over 20 years' experience dealing with the issues it covers, Am I Pretty Enough Yet? offers self-help tools and techniques to build up self-esteem in young women.

What Can You Do When You Feel You're Just Not Good Enough? Do the voices in your head say you're not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough...or just not enough, period? It's time to stop listening to lies that sabotage your confidence and embrace the truth of who God says you are. Popular author and speaker Sharon Jaynes exposes the lies that keep you bogged down in shame, insecurity, and feelings of inadequacy. By recognizing the lies and replacing them with truth, you'll be able to silence the voice inside that whispers you're just not good enough accept God's grace and move past failures that have defined and confined you preload your heart with truth to fight your deepest insecurities Your confidence and faith will grow when you trade self-defeating thoughts for God's truth. Today is the day to embrace your incredible worth as a woman who is uniquely fashioned and spiritually empowered.

This book will help enhance self-image, self- esteem, self-worth and self-confidence in women who may struggle in these areas.

An eye-opening, funny, painful, and always truthful in-depth examination of modern relationships, and a wake-up call for single women about getting real about Mr. Right, from the New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. You have a fulfilling job, great friends, and the perfect apartment. So what if you haven’t found “The One” just yet. He’ll come along someday, right? But what if he doesn’t? Or what if Mr. Right had been, well, Mr. Right in Front of You—but you passed him by? Nearing forty and still single, journalist Lori Gottlieb started to wonder: What makes for lasting romantic fulfillment, and are we looking for those qualities when we’re dating? Are we too picky about trivial things that don’t matter, and not picky enough about the often overlooked things that do? In Marry Him, Gottlieb explores an all-too-common dilemma—how to reconcile the desire for a happy marriage with a list of must-haves and deal-breakers so long and complicated that many great guys get misguidedly eliminated. On a quest to find the answer, Gottlieb sets out on her own journey in search of love, discovering wisdom and surprising insights from sociologists and neurobiologists, marital researchers and behavioral economists—as well as single and married men and women of all generations.

A resource for daughters of mothers with narcissistic personality disorder explains how to manage feelings of inadequacy and abandonment in the face of inappropriate maternal expectations and conditional love, in a step-by-step guide that shares recommendations for creating a personalized program for self-protection and recovery. 50,000 first printing.

“Very wise . . . Give this book to every single girlfriend [you] have.”—Marie Claire If you’re looking to get married and you’re not, there’s most likely a very good reason: you. Hey, you’re certainly not a bad person! You just haven’t yet become the woman you need to be in order to have the partnership you want. That’s where this book comes in. Based on her wildly popular Huffington Post article, Tracy McMillan’s Why You’re Not Married . . . Yet dishes out no-holds-barred practical wisdom for women hoping to head down the aisle. And this new edition features even more candid advice and sisterly insight. McMillan points out the behaviors that might be in your blind spot and shows you how to adjust them to get the relationship you deserve. Do any of these chapter headings sound familiar? • You’re a Bitch: How defensiveness can hide behind a tough exterior, and why being nice is never a sign of weakness. • You’re a Liar: How to stop lying to men—and get honest with yourself—about the kind of relationship you really want. • You’re Selfish: The big secret about marriage: It’s about giving something, not getting it. A funny, insightful guide, Why You’re Not Married . . . Yet will change your life and the way you think about relationships, and it may very well lead you down the aisle. “Equal parts BFF, boot-camp instructor, and relationship guru, Tracy McMillan will change the way you think about yourself and your relationships. This book is for every woman out there who wants to have a great marriage.”—Ricki Lake