Overview

The tragic and redeeming story of how one visionary woman built the biggest toy company in the world and created a global icon. Barbie and Ruth is the entwined story of two exceptional women. There's Barbie: the diminutive yet arrestingly voluptuous doll unveiled at the 1959 Toy Fair who became the treasure of 90 percent of 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. And then there's Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator: the tenth child of Polish Jewish immigrants, a passionately competitive and creative business pioneer, and a mother and wife who wanted it all. After a business scandal that forced Ruth out of Mattel, the company she founded, she drew on her experience as a breast cancer survivor to start a business that changed women's lives. She was ultimately honored as a pioneer, humanitarian, and masterful entrepreneur. Based on original research, extensive interviews, and previously unavailable material, Barbie and Ruth tells the fascinating story of how two women forever changed American business and culture.

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9780061341311

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Reviews

Barbie and her creator, the sharp-elbowed gal who built the biggest toy company, have a story to tell. -- Time magazine

Gerber s smoothly-written biography paints a fearless business woman as a devoted wife, a too-busy mother and a rock- em-sock- em executive. --New York Post

This stirring biography is a fine study of success and resilience. -- Publishers Weekly Gerber's smoothly-written biography paints a fearless business woman as a devoted wife, a too-busy mother and a rock-'em-sock-'em executive. -- New York Post Barbie and her creator, the sharp-elbowed gal who built the biggest toy company, have a story to tell. -- Time magazine

Gerber details the career of Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler-who named her celebrated toy after her only daughter-with the precision of a business-school case study. -- Salon Barbie and her creator, the sharp-elbowed gal who built the biggest toy company, have a story to tell. --Time magazine Gerber's smoothly-written biography paints a fearless business woman as a devoted wife, a too-busy mother and a rock-'em-sock-'em executive. --New York Post This stirring biography is a fine study of success and resilience. --Publishers Weekly This stirring biography is a fine study of success and resilience. --Publishers Weekly Gerber s smoothly-written biography paints a fearless business woman as a devoted wife, a too-busy mother and a rock- em-sock- em executive. --New York Post Barbie and her creator, the sharp-elbowed gal who built the biggest toy company, have a story to tell. --Time magazine

Author Information

"Robin Gerber is the author of several books, she is also a lawyer and senior faculty for the Gallup Organization, and a senior fellow in Executive Education at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. As a national commentator on women, leadership and politics, her opinion pieces appear frequently in national newspapers, and she writes one of the most popular columns for Reader's Digest, ""You Be the Judge."" She is a captivating keynote speaker on leadership development, using stories from the lives of Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Graham and other great leaders to illustrate leadership lessons. Her clients include Bank of America, IBM, Marriott, JP Morgan/Chase, the AARP, and many universities, girls' schools, nonprofits, and government agencies."

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