This book is a pretty much comprehensive look at America's toy industry, using the development of the Dino-Riders (remember those?) as a springboard for discussions of history, economics, politics, and even engineering.

It's a very, very well-written book; I've read it four or five times, just for the joy of the prose. I would have liked to see more about the toy industry in other countries, but this is a minor quibble. Get it if you like toys, or if you're a fan of well-researched and engaging journalism.

My mother is quoted in this book as having said, "Poor Gloria". After reading the highly researched and, at least regarding the Waite High School years, mostly accurate bio, and from a vantage point of the intervening 50 years, it is appropriate to echo, "Poor Gloria". Her story is a string of betrayals, a fear of intimacy, promiscuity and relentless self promotion. I was put on to this book by another of our CAT group who has been married for 43 years, with her husband raised 5 children, traveled globally and is president of a tour company. I, with my husband of 45 years, raised 4 children, one a state senator, another an advocate for the disabled. I was the first to air a consumer program on tv in the country, and the first woman managing editor of a tv news operation. Ours was the first generation whose fathers expected us to go to college....as many of our 16 member CATs did...and realized our individual potential. Gloria became famous. Most of us became fulfilled.

Sidney Ladersohn Stern's excellent biography of Gloria Steinemreveals the person behind the streaked blonde mane and aviatorglasses. The character that emerges from these pages has devoted her life to speaking, organizing and fundraising for women's groups and issues. Generous, warm and witty, she's a born leader. She drives herself to exhaustion to help the underdog. She is also insecure, a sucker for dubious causes (example: victims of satanic cults), and a liar. Repeatedly, Stern shows, she's distorted the truth in her favor - even shaving years off her age.

By collecting telling details, describing them clearly and analyzing them astutely, Stern has shaped a mountain of information into a vivid, nuanced portrait. Sadly, it proved to be too nuanced for its subject. Stern explains in the afterward that Steinem tried to persuade her to change certain details, and when she failed, worked to discredit the book. Too bad. This book offers a realistic picture of a female leader, and thereby does its own bit for womankind.