A History of Popular Women's Magazines in the United States, 1792-1995

(Hardback)

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Throughout their history, women's mass circulation journals have played a major role in the lives of millions of American women. Yet the women's magazines of the early 20th century were quite different from those perused by women today. This book looks at changes that occurred in these journals and offers insight into these changes. Business forces formed a key shaping mechanism, tempered by individual editors, readers, advertisers, technology, and cultural and social forces. Founded in the second half of the 19th century, six titles became the largest circulatorsLadies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Pictorial Review, Woman's Home Companion, and Delineator. Capturing the interest of readers and advertisers, these journals published reliable service departments, fiction, and investigative reporting; however, competition eventually bred editorial caution. This, coupled with the depression of the 1930s, led to a narrowing of content and the beginning of Betty Friedan's feminine mystique. After World War II, the journals faced competition from television. The women's liberation movement and women's entry into the work force also brought changes.

Reviews

"Covering the period from the Civil War to the end of the 20th century, [this book] provides fascinating information about a wide range of issues in social, businesses and economic, and, of course, women's history. The studies of details of the editing, publishing, and sales of these magazines, and of their use of advertising to attract the desired audience, as well as the analysis of the changing contents of the articles published and their relation to emerging social and cultural patterns, make this book important for all interested in understanding changes in society at this time."-Stanley L. Engerman John H. Munro Professor of Economics and Professor of History University of Rochester
"Mary Ellen Zuckerman's [book] is one of the most valuable contributions to media history I have seen in a very long time. It would be hard to exaggerate the influence of these publications in America's cultural life, as we can see increasingly. The dimensions of this subject have been outlined by other historians, but [she] has given us an in-depth study that, for the first time, makes clear, in absorbing detail, the role of these magazines in our lives. The book is an admirably researched, well-told account of an aspect of media never before so thoroughly explored."-John Tebbel Former Chairman, Department of Journalism New York University
"This is truly a one-of-a-kind book, the most comprehensive and thorough treatment ever of women's magazines in America, a genre important in the history of American media and vital today as well. What we have here is a well-crafted and analytical fusion of economic and cultural history that illuminates these media institutions with clarity and purpose."-Everette E. Dennis Distinguished Professor of Communication Fordham Graduate School of Business
.,."[T]he best developed portions of her book deal with the editors who shaped the publications in the years between 1890 and 1940. Each recieves a concise and highly readable summary of its circulation, markets, advertisers. and content....the author does provide thumbnail sketches of the winners and losers and identifies the major challenges in women's magazines. For academic and research collections."-Choice
...[T]he best developed portions of her book deal with the editors who shaped the publications in the years between 1890 and 1940. Each recieves a concise and highly readable summary of its circulation, markets, advertisers. and content....the author does provide thumbnail sketches of the winners and losers and identifies the major challenges in women's magazines. For academic and research collections.-Choice
[A]n excellent reference resource.-Feminist Collections
[I]mpressive research and a wealth of information.-The Journal of American History
[Z]uckerman's book is thorough, and indeed the extent of the research that went into producing the sort of detail that the book contains is stunning. Zuckerman provides a wealth of information about editors, editorial boards, publishers, types of content, circulation, advertisers, advertising format, costs of production, marketing schemes, readers, distribution techniques, and so forth. With regularity she calculates how these different forces play off of one another, and how the balance among them shifts one way and then another in the industry as a whole, and in the cases of individual journals. As a study of the popular women's magazine industry qua industry, Zuckerman's book provides a useful-perhaps even essential-foundation for the future research of others.-Book Reviews
This book offers not just institutional histories of the leading titles but also an explanation of the industry forces that have shaped this market as a whole. It further provides eye-opening perspectives on phenomena that today's students assume to be "modern" problems, such as the commodification of audiences.-Journalism History
[A]n excellent reference resource.Feminist Collections
..."The best developed portions of her book deal with the editors who shaped the publications in the years between 1890 and 1940. Each recieves a concise and highly readable summary of its circulation, markets, advertisers. and content....the author does provide thumbnail sketches of the winners and losers and identifies the major challenges in women's magazines. For academic and research collections."-Choice
"An excellent reference resource."-Feminist Collections
"Impressive research and a wealth of information."-The Journal of American History
"Zuckerman's book is thorough, and indeed the extent of the research that went into producing the sort of detail that the book contains is stunning. Zuckerman provides a wealth of information about editors, editorial boards, publishers, types of content, circulation, advertisers, advertising format, costs of production, marketing schemes, readers, distribution techniques, and so forth. With regularity she calculates how these different forces play off of one another, and how the balance among them shifts one way and then another in the industry as a whole, and in the cases of individual journals. As a study of the popular women's magazine industry qua industry, Zuckerman's book provides a useful-perhaps even essential-foundation for the future research of others."-Book Reviews
..."[T]he best developed portions of her book deal with the editors who shaped the publications in the years between 1890 and 1940. Each recieves a concise and highly readable summary of its circulation, markets, advertisers. and content....the author does provide thumbnail sketches of the winners and losers and identifies the major challenges in women's magazines. For academic and research collections."-Choice
"[A]n excellent reference resource."-Feminist Collections
"[I]mpressive research and a wealth of information."-The Journal of American History
"This book offers not just institutional histories of the leading titles but also an explanation of the industry forces that have shaped this market as a whole. It further provides eye-opening perspectives on phenomena that today's students assume to be "modern" problems, such as the commodification of audiences."-Journalism History
"[Z]uckerman's book is thorough, and indeed the extent of the research that went into producing the sort of detail that the book contains is stunning. Zuckerman provides a wealth of information about editors, editorial boards, publishers, types of content, circulation, advertisers, advertising format, costs of production, marketing schemes, readers, distribution techniques, and so forth. With regularity she calculates how these different forces play off of one another, and how the balance among them shifts one way and then another in the industry as a whole, and in the cases of individual journals. As a study of the popular women's magazine industry qua industry, Zuckerman's book provides a useful-perhaps even essential-foundation for the future research of others."-Book Reviews

Author Bio

MARY ELLEN ZUCKERMAN is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Jones School of Business at SUNYGeneseo. She is the author of Sources in the History of Women's Magazines, 1792-1960 (Greenwood, 1991) and coauthor of The Magazine in America (1991).