{"product_id":"looking-for-miss-america-a-pageants-100-year-quest-to-define-womanhood-9781640094901","title":"Looking for Miss America: A Pageant's 100-Year Quest to Define Womanhood","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Popular Culture Association's Emily Toth Best Book in Women's Studies Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom an author praised for writing \"delicious social history\" (Dwight Garner, \u003ci\u003e The New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e) comes a lively account of memorable Miss America contestants, protests, and scandals--and how the pageant, now in its one hundredth year, serves as an unintended indicator of feminist progress\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eLooking for Miss America\u003c\/i\u003e is a fast-paced narrative history of a curious and contradictory institution. From its start in 1921 as an Atlantic City tourist draw to its current incarnation as a scholarship competition, the pageant has indexed women's status during periods of social change--the post-suffrage 1920s, the Eisenhower 1950s, the #MeToo era. This ever-changing institution has been shaped by war, evangelism, the rise of television and reality TV, and, significantly, by contestants who confounded expectations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSpotlighting individuals, from Yolande Betbeze, whose refusal to pose in swimsuits led an angry sponsor to launch the rival Miss USA contest, to the first black winner, Vanessa Williams, who received death threats and was protected by sharpshooters in her hometown parade, Margot Mifflin shows how women made hard bargains even as they used the pageant for economic advancement. The pageant's history includes, crucially, those it excluded; the notorious Rule Seven, which required contestants to be \"of the white race,\" was retired in the 1950s, but no women of color were crowned until the 1980s. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn rigorously researched, vibrant chapters that unpack each decade of the pageant, \u003ci\u003eLooking for Miss America\u003c\/i\u003e examines the heady blend of capitalism, patriotism, class anxiety, and cultural mythology that has fueled this American ritual.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-13561859\"\u003eMargot Mifflin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Counterpoint LLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/03\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.83lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781640094901\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1640094903\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS054000\"\u003eSocial History\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS058000\"\u003eWomen\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-SOC\"\u003eSocial Science\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-SOC022000\"\u003ePopular Culture\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMargot Mifflin\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eLooking for Miss America\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman\u003c\/i\u003e. She has written for publications including \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e. Find out more at margotmifflin.com.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Counterpoint LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42711543972077,"sku":"9781640094901","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_19e4759e-e6fc-4299-a944-0e502f551b03.jpg?v=1650163021","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/looking-for-miss-america-a-pageants-100-year-quest-to-define-womanhood-9781640094901","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}