Paulina Bren is a professor at Vassar College in New York, where she teaches international studies, gender, and media. She is the author of a prize-winning book about soap operas and communism behind the Iron Curtain and co-editor of a collection on consumerism in the Eastern Bloc. Born in the former Czechoslovakia, Paulina spent her childhood in the U.K. before moving to the United States. She attended Wesleyan University as an undergraduate, later receiving an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in History from New York University. She has held a host of research grants and fellowships, including residencies in Berlin, Budapest, Vienna, and Atlanta. She currently lives in the Bronx with her husband and daughter.
[An] insightful, well-written account...[Bren] details the
lives of some of the Barbizon's most well-known residents,
including Molly Brown, Grace Kelly, Sylvia Plath, and Joan Didion,
and provides historical context about midcentury single women,
careers, and sex...A must read for anyone interested in the
history of 20th-century women's lives, fashion, publishing,
and New York. * Library Journal *
Varying delectably in cadence, from high-heel tapping and
typewriter clacking to sinuous and reflective passages analyzing
the complex forms of adversity Barbizon women faced over the
decades, Bren's engrossing and illuminating inquiry portrays the
original Barbizon as a vital microcosm of the long quest for
women's equality. * Booklist *
A rare glimpse behind the doors of New York's famous women-only
residential hotel...Drawing on extensive research, extant letters,
and numerous interviews, Bren beautifully weaves together the
political climate of the times and the illuminating personal
stories of the Barbizon residents...Elegant prose brings a
rich cultural history alive. * Kirkus Reviews *
An entertaining and enlightening account of New York's
Barbizon Hotel and the role it played in fostering women's
ambitions in 20th-century America...Carefully researched yet
breezily written, this appealing history gives the Barbizon its
rightful turn in the spotlight. * Publishers Weekly *
Before Sex and the Single Girl, before "Sex and the City,"
there was the Barbizon. It was a romantic building with a romantic
purpose: It fixed a woman up with her dreams. Paulina Bren has
written a stylish, charming history of a unique institution,
brimming with aspiration and idiosyncrasy, and one that allowed
a woman to survive without either marrying someone or cooking him
dinner - even when she was barred from so much as taking a seat at
the bar. * STACY SCHIFF, author of The Witches and Pulitzer Prize
Winner *
Residents of the Barbizon Hotel were once described as 'young women
alone.' Thanks to Paulina Bren, they are alone no longer. The
Barbizon is a fascinating social history of a forgotten place
and time and an intimate portrait of women, trying to find their
way in a pre-feminist world. I'll never look at a hotel and
think the same way again. * KEITH O'BRIEN, New York Times
bestselling author of Fly Girls *
This is the history I've been wanting to read all my life. I just
didn't know where to look. How delightful to find it in the
legacy of this magical hotel, captured in brilliant detail by the
masterful Paulina Bren. Even if you can't move into the
Barbizon, reading this book will make you feel like you've lived
there for years. You'll never want to move out. * MEGHAN DAUM,
author of The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through The New
Culture Wars *
From famous models to Joan Didion, from hopeful stenographers to
Sylvia Plath. The Barbizon housed women who eagerly sought
independence, adventure, and careers in New York City. Besides
the story of the famous women-only hotel, The Barbizon
chronicles key aspects of American women's history in the first
half of the twentieth century. A compelling read! * LYNN
DUMENIL, author The Second Line of Defense: American Women and
World War I *
Touching in its loyalty to these women, the ones who arrived
with suitcases and dreams in the Barbizon's grand lobby. Bren draws
on an impressive amount of archival research, and pays
tender attention to each of the women she profiles. *
International New York Times *
This vivid, well-researched account is testimony to its
vibrant history and the women who made it such a powerhouse.
* Daily Express *
A fascinating look at a piece of hidden female history. The
fortunes of the hotel are entwined with the changing role of women
in the 20th century. It's timely too: 100 years afterit was built,
in the wake of #MeToo and the death of Sarah Everard, the idea of a
women-only hotel feels not anachronistic but liberating. *
The Sunday Times *
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