New Book
A poignant, funny, and piercing exploration of the Miss America pageant at its 100th anniversary.
The sash. The tears. The glittering crown. And of course, that soaring song. For all of its pomp and kitsch, the Miss America pageant is indelibly written into the American story of the past century. From its giddy origins as a summer’s-end tourist draw in Prohibition-era Atlantic City, it blossomed into a televised extravaganza that drew tens of millions of viewers in its heyday and was once considered the highest honor that a young woman could achieve.
For two years, Washington Post reporter and editor Amy Argetsinger visited pageants and interviewed former winners and contestants to unveil the hidden world of this iconic institution. There She Was spotlights how the pageant survived decades of social and cultural change, collided with a women’s liberation movement that sought to abolish it, and redefined itself alongside evolving ideas about feminism.
"Assiduously researched and beautifully written, There She Was explores the pageant's history, its small-town roots and its glamorous allure with engaging reporting, wry humor and affection. In Argetsinger's capable hands, this is ultimately the story of women in this country."
—Robin Givhan, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, Washington Post senior critic-at-large, and author of The Battle of Versailles
For its superstars—Phyllis George, Vanessa Williams, Gretchen Carlson—and for those who never became household names, Miss America was a platform for women to exercise their ambitions and learn brutal lessons about the culture of fame. Spirited and revelatory, There She Was charts the evolution of the American woman, from the Miss America catapulted into advocacy after she was exposed as a survivor of domestic violence to the one who used her crown to launch a congressional campaign; from a 1930s winner who ran away on the night of her crowning to a present-day rock guitarist carving out her place in this world. Argetsinger dissects the scandals and financial turmoil that have repeatedly threatened to kill the pageant—and highlights the unexpected sisterhood of Miss Americas fighting to keep it alive.
Praise for There She Was
“An earnest, gossip-fueled history of the Miss America pageant. An unabashed admirer of the pageant, Argetsinger details its origins in the 1920s as a promotion to draw tourists to Atlantic City during prohibition, and lovingly skewers such beauty pageant clichés as baton-twirling (no twirler has ever won the contest) and contestants’ calls for ‘world peace.’ Profiles of well-known winners . . . add color and insight, while Argetsinger keeps careful track of how political and cultural trends have affected the contest.”
“She brings empathy and respect to the women who have followed this path. . . . Argetsinger studies the taxonomy of the Miss America pageants from the 1970s to the present, taking in the many small, local contests that lead up to the mother of them all. A national beauty pageant in the era of women’s liberation is inherently complicated.”
— Lisa Birnbach, The Washington Post
“Absorbing. . . a timetravelly journey. . . There She Was delves into the pageant's many scandals and identity crises, its toxic culture and racist history. . . swings through the glory boomer years of Phyllis George and on to the Vanessa Williams scandal and to the sad, snowy December 2019 pageant.”
“The story of Miss America is in fact two stories: one about a cultural behemoth that for decades seemed to actually represent something about womanhood and America, and the other about a weird, passionate subculture defiantly clinging to its tarnished crown. . . . [Argetsinger’s] sympathetic ear brings forth candid, conflicted testimony from an array of former and almost Miss Americas, and she emphasizes the sisterhood and support that many of the women found—often years later—among other winners. . . . Few have done such a lively, clear-eyed job at evoking [the pageant’s] pleasures.”
“What keeps them vying for a title that many people think of as outdated? The best person to answer this question may well be Amy Argetsinger. . . . A passionate and eye-opening history of an iconic and surprisingly adaptable American organization.”
“[Argetsinger] looks at the pageant’s past and present, literally taking the reader backstage to meet the contestants vying for Miss Virginia (as suspenseful as any Agatha Christie plot), dissecting all the juiciest scandals, and examining the institution against the backdrop of the women’s liberation movement. . . . It is her knack for detailing delicious drama that makes her book so much fun to read.”
“The ultimate history of one of nation’s iconic events. . . . There are scandals (remember Vanessa Williams?), low points, and triumphs all covered with both a reporter’s thoroughness and a hint of the enthusiasm of a secret fan. . . convey[ing] the ways American culture has changed for women, and the ways it is still the same. This should be a big hit. . . .”
— Booklist
“Argetsinger details some of the men who held sway over these pageants for decades . . . shaping the industry, by shaping young women, sometimes literally with surgery, to put them up for competition. [She] talks to some of the women competing now, following several through the 2019 pageant season. . . . These are women in the Instagram age. Already familiar with being scrutinized on social media. They have grown up with different expectations of appearance, and cultivating a brand.”
“Intensively researched and engagingly written . . . THERE SHE WAS moves back and forth in time, juxtaposing a century’s worth of changes in social norms with the symbolism so deeply embedded in ‘Miss America.’ . . . As 1982 winner Elizabeth Gracen confessed to the author, ‘No one really told me that Miss America is a persona. I actually believed I had to be perfect.’ . . . Miss America alternately followed trends and led the way, Argetsinger suggests, but her point is that even a contestant who played against type felt haunted.”