Barbie and Ruth
The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her
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3.9 • 30 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
“Barbie and her creator, the sharp-elbowed gal who built the biggest toy company, have a story to tell.” —Time
Barbie and Ruth is the remarkable true story of the world’s most famous toy and the woman who created her. It is a fascinating account of how one visionary woman and her product changed an industry and sparked a lasting debate about women’s roles. At once a business book, a colorful portrait of an extraordinary female entrepreneur, and a breathtaking look at a cultural phenomenon, Barbie and Ruth is a must read for anyone who ever owned a Barbie doll.
This is the entwined tale of two exceptional women. One was a voluptuous eleven-inch-tall beauty who debuted at the 1959 Toy Fair in New York City and quickly became the treasure of 9 out of 10 American girls and their counterparts in 150 countries. She went on to compete as an Olympic athlete, serve as an air force pilot, work as a boutique owner, run as a presidential candidate, and ignite a cultural firestorm. The other was Ruth Handler, the tenth child of Polish Jewish immigrants.
A brilliant, creative, ruthless, and passionately competitive visionary, Ruth was a mother and wife who wanted it all—a masterful entrepreneur who, together with her curvaceous plastic creation, changed American business and culture forever.
This definitive biography reveals the full story behind the icon:
The Making of Mattel: Follow Ruth Handler as she transforms a garage startup into the biggest toy company in the world, fighting naysayers at every turn.A Visionary Woman: A detailed portrait of Ruth Handler—the brilliant, ruthless, and passionately competitive tenth child of immigrants who changed American business forever.The Doll Nobody Wanted: Discover the surprising origin story of Barbie, from her controversial debut at the 1959 Toy Fair to her status as a global cultural phenomenon.Scandal and Reinvention: A gripping account of the federal fraud charges that forced Ruth from her empire and the personal health crisis that led to her second act: creating the groundbreaking Nearly Me breast prosthesis.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Just in time for the 50th anniversary of Barbie is this behind-the-scenes look at her eccentric, determined inventor. Ruth Handler (1916 2002)was the ambitious and entrepreneurial 10th child of poor Polish immigrants. Disappointed with the unsophisticated dolls of the time, Ruth envisioned a doll that would allow young girls to act out their fantasies of the stylish young women they wanted to become. She modeled her creation on the Swiss doll "Bild-Lilli," a curvaceous plastic bombshell originally sold as a sex toy/gag gift and named her after her daughter Barbara. Handler fought indefatigably to establish herself in a male-dominated field, and history was made: 50 years later, Mattel is the biggest toy company in the world, and Barbie is sold at a rate of three dolls per second, worldwide. But Handler's rising star was short-lived; battered by breast cancer and convicted of shady business dealings in 1978, she wrenched her attentions away from Mattel and devoted herself to creating realistic, affordable prosthetic breasts for women who had lost one to a mastectomy. This stirring biography is a fine study of success and resilience.
