Overview

First came the secretaries from Brooklyn and Queens—the “smart cookies” who saw that making money, lots of it, might be within their grasp. Then came the first female Harvard Business School graduates, who were in for a rude awakening because an equal degree did not mean equal opportunity. But by the 1980s, as the market went into turbodrive, women were being plucked from elite campuses to feed the belly of a rapidly expanding beast, playing for high stakes in Wall Street’s bad-boy culture by day and clubbing by night. In She-Wolves, award-winning historian Paulina Bren tells the story of how women infiltrated Wall Street from the swinging sixties to 9/11—starting at a time when “No Ladies” signs hung across the doors of its luncheon clubs and (more discretely) inside its brokerage houses and investment banks. If the wolves of Wall Street made a show of their ferocity, the she-wolves did so with subtlety and finesse. Research analysts signed their reports with genderless initials. Muriel “Mickie” Siebert, the first woman to buy a seat on the NYSE, threatened she’d have port-a-potties delivered if the exchange didn’t finally install a ladies’ room near the dining room. The infamous 1996 Boom-Boom Room class action lawsuit, filed by women at Smith Barney, pulled back the curtain on a bawdy subculture where unapologetic sexism and racism were the norm. As engaging as it is enraging, She-Wolves is an illuminating deep dive into the collision of women, finance, and New York.

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9781324035152

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Reviews

"""Superb. In She-Wolves, Paulina Bren proves herself to be a master storyteller as she describes, with vibrant prose and exquisite historical detail, the women who, beginning in the 1960s, dared to enter the male preserve of Wall Street where outrageously boorish and misogynistic behavior weren’t the exceptions; they were the norm. Illuminating, exasperating, at times hilarious, She-Wolves is a must read for anyone hoping to understand where women in the United States have been and how much further they have to go."" -- Mary Gabriel, author of Madonna: A Rebel Life"

"""With verve and vivid detail, She-Wolves tells the true collective story of women who calculated, analyzed, sold, bought, and traded their way to the top of the financial system. It's a riveting tale of trades and trade offs, ticker tape and triumphs, sexism and strategy, ambition and ascent, as women dealt themselves into the game."" -- Liza Mundy, author of New York Times bestseller Code Girls and The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA ""A marvel of enterprising research and readerly delights. From the ambitious ‘clairvoyant’ sisters who founded Wall Street’s first women’s firm to a 1990s whisper network that traded in ‘survival hints,’ Paulina Bren’s untold history of women and finance is deliciously tangible—and timely. If you didn’t already appreciate the gains of #MeToo, you will now."" -- Kate Bolick, author of New York Times bestseller Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own ""The fascinating story of the women who entered the male domain of Wall Street, enduring despicable behavior vividly documented by brilliant historian Paulina Bren. Her writing, both gorgeous and pithy, brings to life their triumphs and grit, sure to endure with readers long after the book ends."" -- Amy Odell, author of New York Times bestseller Anna: A Biography ""Superb… Paulina Bren proves herself to be a master storyteller… Illuminating, exasperating, at times hilarious, She-Wolves is a must read for anyone hoping to understand where women in the United States have been and how much further they have to go."" -- Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women"

"""Superb. In She-Wolves, Paulina Bren proves herself to be a master storyteller as she describes, with vibrant prose and exquisite historical detail, the women who, beginning in the 1960s, dared to enter the male preserve of Wall Street where outrageously boorish and misogynistic behavior weren’t the exceptions; they were the norm. Illuminating, exasperating, at times hilarious, She-Wolves is a must read for anyone hoping to understand where women in the United States have been and how much further they have to go."" -- Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women"

Author Information

Paulina Bren is an award-winning historian and professor at Vassar College, where she teaches international, gender, and media studies. She is the author of the acclaimed The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free and lives in New York City.

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