Park Avenue Summer

Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen   338 pages

Told from the perspective of fictional Alice Weiss, this is an account of Helen Gurley Brown, the first female editor of Cosmopolitian. Alice lands the secretarial position to Helen Gurley Brown and is privy to Helen's frequent crying jaggers, obsession with her weight and fashion sense, but most of all...her strength and singularity of vision in the future of Cosmopolitan magazine. As Helen's right arm, Alice also finds herself rubbing shoulders with successful entertainment industry at parties. Alice navigates the rough terrain of romance, alcohol and sex, work intrigue, and career growth opportunities in this delightful historical romp through sixties NYC. Although parts of the book lagged, it ultimately resolved itself to a satisfying present day conclusion.

The true portion of this story explores how the failing Cosmopolitan magazine was reimagined by new editor Helen Gurley Brown, in defiance of the direction dictated by owning Hearst Corporation, to become a resource for the modern, single, career woman. Before being hired as editor of the magazine, Helen Gurley Brown had written Sex and the Single Girl, a groundbreaking advice book that encouraged women to become financially independent and experience sexual relationships before or without marriage. So when she became responsible for Cosmo’s content, Brown transformed the literary magazine famed for its high-toned content into the racy, contentious, popular, and successful magazine that espoused her particular feminist views.

Posted by: Regina C.