A Cosmopolitan Best Nonfiction Book of 2024
A Town & Country Must-Read for Summer 2024
"The latest example of great shopping writing . . . Satow could have focused on the stores alone, with their array of delightful bygone details. But by following Odlum, Shaver, and Stutz, she posits that women, in shaping retail, invented the American fashion industry. . . the worlds they built were largely forgotten, until Satow revived their legacies." —The Washington Post
"Ms. Satow’s carefully researched book is compulsively readable: I found myself dashing through it like a novel. She portrays the women with verve; we get a glimpse into their lives, as well as a sense of what it was like at each of these retail meccas." —The Wall Street Journal
"Julie Satow celebrates the savvy leaders who made Bonwit, Bendel’s and Lord & Taylor into retail meccas of their moment. . . Clever . . . [Odlum, Shaver, and Stutz] are a force” —The New York Times
"Incisive" —The New York Post
"Julie Satow . . . sheds a spotlight on the three women who changed the shopping landscape in the country . . . Amid the floors of chiffon and other luxuries is drama with Salvador Dali, spying, and divorce. Need we say more?" —Town & Country
“Masterful. . . An essential read for anyone who loves New York history and the stories of complicated, brilliant women, Satow’s book is enthralling from start to finish. She brings the glorious department stores of the past to vivid life while offering compassionate, nuanced portraits of those who ran the show.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Spectacular
“Deliciously detailed and impeccably researched, a gripping and glamorous examination of the women who were the life force of what remains a beating heart of American culture: the department store. An exuberant read! I truly loved this book.” —Denise Kiernan, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls of Atomic City and The Last Castle
“These women were the business powerhouses and advertising savants you never heard of. They understood how to elevate style, capture the public’s imagination, and make money at the same time and in a man’s world. If you liked Mad Men then you’ll love When Women Ran Fifth Avenue.” —#1 New York Times bestselling author Kate Andersen Brower, author The Residence and First Women
“American history at its best.” —Laurence Leamer, New York Times bestselling author of Capote's Women
“In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, Julie Satow shows how a trio of forthright female retailers transformed New York’s grand old department stores into dynamic, modern emporiums, and, in turn, vitalized America’s burgeoning fashion industry. A delightful spin through 20th-century Manhattan, and a fitting tribute to these formidable and long-overlooked business leaders.” —Dana Thomas, author of the New York Times bestseller, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
“By taking us inside the gilded department store revolving doors in When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, Julie Satow transports us to an era filled with designers, artists, and celebrities. In this fascinating and glamorous trip back in time, we are introduced to the women behind the scenes who made it all happen — changing the way we shop, dress, and pursue careers.” —Kate Storey, New York Times bestselling author of White House by the Sea
"Satow traces the arc of the American woman over the twentieth century as she worked to break down barriers, open up new avenues of work and self-realization and, yes, dress the American public in style. Satow illuminates how it took glamour, grit, and girl power to bring about America’s new era of fashion and commerce." —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of Finding Margaret Fuller
"Illuminating" —Kirkus
"An engaging history that feels right at home in the age of influencers." —BookTrib
“Julie Satow intertwines the personal and the political, the financial and the aesthetic in this portrait of an iconic era of American history. Its lively character studies, delicious pop culture scenes, and thorough research illuminate the women at the very center of a contradictory moment: at once traditional and liberated, hopeful and tough.” —Julia Cooke, author of Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am
"Julie Satow dives deep into a forgotten era to unveil the gilded world of modern American department stores. With a historian's precision and a storyteller's charm, she brings to life three formidable women who not only shaped an industry but also defied societal expectations. Satow's narrative unfolds with revelations so striking they'll make readers gasp. We are reminded of the tenacity and vision of women at the forefront of commerce and culture. It is history at its most captivating, replete with glamour, rivalry, and ambition." —Laurie Gwen Shapiro, author of The Stowaway: A Young Man's Extraordinary to Antarctica
05/01/2024
TFashion narratives often center male European designers, but New York Times contributor Satow (The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel) tells a different story in her compact and compelling history of the American department store as a uniquely woman-centered realm, distilled through the careers of Hortense Odlum at Bonwit Teller, Dorothy Shaver at Lord & Taylor, and Geraldine Stutz at Henri Bendel. Satow shows department stores as equalizing spaces for talented women to find careers outside their homes, though her three protagonists struggle to balance roles as leaders of their companies against society's expectations of them. Sidebars on Maggie Walker establishing St. Luke Emporium for Black shoppers, Elizabeth Hawes surreptitiously sketching Paris runways, Adel Rootstein creating modern mannequins, and other short takes expand the story. Satow concludes with perhaps excessive optimism about the democratizing nature of online retail and the expanded career options open to women today. VERDICT A fascinating journalistic study of three pioneering women in the changing retail landscape of the 20th-century United States. Shoppers who've been surfing Amazon in sweatpants since the pandemic began might look back on the eras of Odlum, Shaver, and Stutz with nostalgia.—Lindsay King
