Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide

by Maureen Dowd

Overview

Outspoken, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Op-Ed columnist Maureen Dowd tackles the hot-button topic of gender politics in this “funny, biting, and incisive take on women's place in American society today” (Library Journal).

Are men afraid of smart, successful women? Why did feminism fizzle? Why are so many of today’s women freezing their faces and emotions in an orgy of plasticity? Is “having it all” just a cruel hoax?

In this witty and wide-ranging book, Maureen Dowd looks at the state of the sexual union, raising bold questions and examining everything from economics and presidential politics to pop culture and the “why?” of the Y chromosome.

In our ever-changing culture where locker room talk has become the talk of the town, Are Men Necessary? will intrigue Dowd's devoted readers—and anyone trying to sort out the chaos that occurs when sexes collide.

THE INSPIRATION FOR WHITNEY CUMMINGS' FORTHCOMING HBO® COMEDY PILOT “A LOT”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425212363
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/03/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 - 17 Years

About the Author

Born in Washington, Maureen Dowd began her journalism career in 1974 as an editorial assistant for The Washington Star, where she later became a sports columnist, metropolitan reporter and feature writer. From there she went to Times magazine, then moved to The Times’s Washington bureau in 1986 to cover politics. She has covered seven presidential campaigns and served as a White House correspondent. In 1995 she became a columnist for The New York Times Op-Ed page and in 1999 won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary.

In addition to her two New York Times bestsellers, Bushworld and Are Men Necessary?, Dowd has written for GQ, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New Republic, Mademoiselle, Sports Illustrated and others.

Editorial Reviews

A blistering critique of modern gender relations.”—Salon

“Fun...plenty of style and wit.”—Baltimore Sun

“She'll keep you turning pages...Dowd has a voice that carries.”—People

“No one vets the culture with a keener eye than Dowd.”—Chicago Tribune

“Maureen Dowd has waded into the one topic more controversial than politics: sexual politics.”—Austin American-Statesman

“The New York Times columnist is dizzyingly well-read and well-rounded, with references from Oscar Wilde to Valley of the Dolls. My favorite part was when she casually flund the phrase 'as Carmen Miranda used to say' into a discussion of the Enron scandal...very lively...always entertaining.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“[Dowd] discusses sexual realities and absurdities, doing so with the same verve and nerve with which she handled the other hot-button topic—politics—in her 2004 bestseller, Bushworld...hilarious, cutting, and provocative.”—Booklist

“Readable, provocative, and entertaining.”—*Library Journal

From the Publisher

Hearing Dowd purr through her own book provides an entirely new, unexpected dimension to her writing. As with her op-ed columns for the New York Times, her book on the travails of the modern woman clothes alarming conclusions in fizzy, irony-drenched writing. For her reading of her book on the return of femininity as a man-catching technique, Dowd turns on her own feminine wiles, often beginning new paragraphs by breathing seductively into the microphone before settling back and adopting a more ordinary-sounding tone. To Dowd, the act of reading is a form of seduction, a notion reflected in the audiobook's packaging, whose cover features a painting of a glam redhead reading on the subway. Dowd's sensual reading is a clever gambit, luring listeners in before clobbering them with the sad truth of the backlash to feminism. If her Times gig ever falls through, she can always fall back on a second career as an audiobook reader. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 26). (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dowd (Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk) presents her funny, biting, and incisive take on women's place in American society today. In the style of her columns, Dowd's writing races along as she presents academic studies on the Y chromosome and on the relationship between a woman's IQ and the odds she will marry, alongside essays on popular culture where she considers, for example, how society moved from Gloria Steinem and "no-makeup" feminism to Desperate Housewives and Botox injections. Dowd ponders why girls dominate in high school but women fail to dominate in the adult world; why the three network news anchor jobs were again filled by white men; and why Hillary Rodham Clinton had to be a victim to become a senator. Her long journalism career and her Washington connections allow Dowd to give the reader an inside glimpse of influential figures. Readable, provocative, and entertaining, this is recommended for public libraries.-Debra Moore, Cerritos Coll., Norwalk, CA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

CD 0-143-05828-2After sticking it to the administration in Bushworld (2004), New York Times Pulitzer-winner Dowd takes on the battle of the sexes. Like most columnists, the author is easier to take in small daily doses. Full-length exposure to the rarified world she moves in prompts the uneasy feeling that Dowd doesn't know much about ordinary folks. Joking that nowadays women check out their prospective partners on the Internet, she seems not to realize that most people are unlikely to find mentions of their blind date on Google. "Whence the Wince?" and "How Green Is My Valley of the Dolls," which extensively anatomize the cult of bodily perfection and chemical-induced placidity, will certainly be of interest to those whose peers can afford plastic surgery, frequent Botox injections and abundant prescriptions of Paxil, perhaps not so much to women holding down jobs and raising their kids without the benefit of full-time nannies or CEO husbands. Dowd's habit of quoting friends and colleagues-who all seem to be media executives, political operatives or other Times writers-reinforces the perception of her blinkered perspective. Granted, she delivers her basic message strongly: "Feminism lasted for a nanosecond, but the backlash has lasted forty years." And she's often very funny to a serious purpose, as in her skewering of "Saturday Morning Bill" Clinton who "would mess around with women with big-cut hair and low-cut dresses," while "Sunday Morning Bill would run and hide behind the sedate skirts of the high-toned feminists he surrounded himself with." (Her most stinging passages skewer the hypocrisy of feminists who decried the smear tactics used against Anita Hill, then used the sametactics against Monica Lewinsky.) Still, a staunch liberal and feminist like Dowd, who proudly declares that she comes "from a family of Irish maids," could profitably spend more time writing about the impact of the antifeminist backlash on people who are still cleaning houses. Her heart's in the right place, but she really should get out more. Agent: Esther Newberg/ICM

Kirkus Reviews

A must-read from an important NEW YORK TIMES writer who not only has razor-sharp insights, but who precisely and deftly illustrates what the battle of the sexes really is all about--complete with telling anecdotes from both her personal life and professional experiences. Such good writing deserves not only a first-class narration, but also an attractive audio package worthy of the subject, rather than this garish one. Recommendation to listeners: Ignore both the cover and the delivery and concentrate on Dowd's spot-on accounts of men and women living and working together in this brave new world supposedly with equal opportunities for both sexes. L.C. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

APR/MAY 06 - AudioFile