Daring: My Passages

by Gail Sheehy

Overview

The author of the classic New York Times bestseller Passages returns with her inspiring memoir—a chronicle of her trials and triumphs as a groundbreaking “girl” journalist in the 1960s, to iconic guide for women and men seeking to have it all, to one of the premier political profilers of modern times.

Candid, insightful, and powerful, Daring: My Passages is the story of the unconventional life of a writer who dared . . . to walk New York City streets with hookers and pimps to expose violent prostitution; to march with civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland as British paratroopers opened fire; to seek out Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat when he was targeted for death after making peace with Israel.

Always on the cutting edge of social issues, Gail Sheehy reveals the obstacles and opportunities encountered when she dared to blaze a trail in a “man’s world.” Daring is also a beguiling love story of Sheehy’s tempestuous romance with and eventual happy marriage to Clay Felker, the charismatic creator of New York magazine. As well, Sheehy recounts her audacious pursuit and intimate portraits of many twentieth-century leaders, including Hillary Clinton, Presidents George H. W. and George W. Bush, and the world-altering attraction between Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Sheehy reflects on desire, ambition, and wanting it all—career, love, children, friends, social significance—and lays bare her major life passages: false starts and surprise successes, the shock of failures and inner crises; betrayal in a first marriage; life as a single mother; flings of an ardent, liberated young woman; her adoption of a second daughter from a refugee camp; marriage to the love of her life and their ensuing years of happiness, even in the shadow of illness.

Now stronger than ever, Sheehy speaks from hard-won experience to today’s young women. Her fascinating, no-holds-barred story is a testament to guts, resilience, smarts, and daring, and offers a bold perspective on all of life’s passages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062291707
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/23/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Gail Sheehy is the author of seventeen books, including the classic New York Times bestseller Passages, named one of the ten most influential books of our times by the Library of Congress. A multiple-award-winning literary journalist, she was one of the original contributors to New York magazine and has been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 1984. A popular lecturer, Sheehy was named AARP's Ambassador of Caregiving in 2009.

Hometown:

New York City and Berkeley, California

Date of Birth:

November 27, 1937

Education:

B.A., University of Vermont; M.A., Columbia School of Journalism

Table of Contents

Part 1 The Pygmalion Years

Chapter 1 Do I Dare? 3

Chapter 2 Crossroads of a Million Private Lives 16

Chapter 3 False Starts 29

Chapter 4 Deceptions 41

Chapter 5 Seduction at the Algonquin 50

Chapter 6 Love and Death in the Year America Came Apart 55

Chapter 7 Failing Up 67

Chapter 8 The New York Family 80

Chapter 9 "I'll Make You a Star" 92

Chapter 10 Hiding Out at Woodstock 103

Chapter 11 Playing House 116

Chapter 12 Fear of Feminism 125

Chapter 13 Women Helping Women 136

Chapter 14 Redpants and Regrets 139

Chapter 15 Secret of Grey Gardens 150

Chapter 16 Fighting Irish Women 157

Chapter 17 Kissinger and the Kitchen Wars 168

Chapter 18 Stepping off the Pedestal 182

Part 2 The Passages Years

Chapter 19 Lovebirds 197

Chapter 20 Birthing Passages 210

Chapter 21 Fear of Failure or Fear of Success? 222

Chapter 22 Fatal Attraction 235

Chapter 23 Power Fever 241

Chapter 24 Murdoch Makes His Move 254

Chapter 25 For the Love of Editors 270

Chapter 26 The Mission That Found Me 280

Chapter 27 Separations 292

Chapter 28 Discovering Mohm 298

Chapter 29 A Passage for Keeps 310

Chapter 30 Finding a New Voice at Vanity Fair 316

Chapter 31 Start-Ups 330

Chapter 32 Two Who Changed the World 341

Chapter 33 The Silent Passage 359

Chapter 34 Lions and Toads 374

Part 3 The Bonus Years

Chapter 35 The Happiness Prescription 381

Chapter 36 The Hillary Decade 392

Chapter 37 Recurrence 406

Chapter 38 New Millennium, New Baby 414

Chapter 39 Losing Clay 420

Chapter 40 Losing Myself 429

Chapter 41 All That Jazz 442

Chapter 42 Coming Back 449

Acknowledgments 461

Credits 465

Index 467

Editorial Reviews

[R]emarkable ... a fascinating narrative with Gail’s voice, breathless and intense, as she tries to make sense of everything she’s done—her work, her travels, her wild giddy adventures, her sometimes intensely painful experiences.” — Vanity Fair

“Sheehy gives readers a distinct glimpse into some of the most important events of the last 40 years, and, for many, this will be enough reason to read on. Her perspective on the women’s movement and the decline of print journalism is especially compelling.” — Library Journal

“Here, [Sheehy] looks back on her remarkable life with unflinching candor.” — O, the Oprah Magazine

“Daring is an inspiring portrait of a resilient woman who fought hard to live an authentic life, and won.” — More.com

“Its familiarity captivates. ...The book is a thorough remembrance of [Sheehy’s] life . . . her entire life. And she’s had a big life.” — East Hampton Star

“The love story of two superstars in the final great moment of American magazine journalism.” — Tom Wolfe, journalist & bestselling author

“Gail Sheehy’s work always combines the care of a scholar and the sensibility of a novelist. Her memoir is a thrilling read.” — Erica Jong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fear of Flying

“Daring by Gail Sheehy is the anecdotal life of a pioneering and hardworking journalist who plunges into everything with energy and curiosity. After a lifetime of writing about other people, she takes on the most difficult assignment - herself. It’s an irresistible read.” — Gloria Steinem

“Gail Sheehy says that what she cares about most is honesty, and this remarkable memoir is proof. ...I dare you to put it down. I couldn’t.” — Meredith Vieira, journalist and news correspondant

“Gail takes us behind the scenes of New York magazine as only one who was there could do.” — Milton Glaser, cofounder of New York magazine

“An astonishing book! ...Those were the days, my friend; we thought they’d never end. They did, but Gail Sheehy brings them alive again.” — Richard Reeves, lecturer, syndicated columnist, and author

“Ardent, approachable, forthright, and empathetic ... a riveting account of one woman’s exhilarating trajectory, a page-turning, powerhouse testament to resilience, perseverance, and hope.” — Booklist (starred review)

“[Sheehy’s] exuberance leaps off the page as she maps out her professional highs - interviews with world leaders, her best-seller Passages - against the backdrop of a failed first marriage and her decades-long relationship with New York magazine founder Clay Felker. A-” — Entertainment Weekly

From the Publisher

Gail Sheehy says that what she cares about most is honesty, and this remarkable memoir is proof. ...I dare you to put it down. I couldn’t.

Meredith Vieira

Daring is an inspiring portrait of a resilient woman who fought hard to live an authentic life, and won.

More.com

Gail Sheehy’s work always combines the care of a scholar and the sensibility of a novelist. Her memoir is a thrilling read.

Erica Jong

Here, [Sheehy] looks back on her remarkable life with unflinching candor.

the Oprah Magazine O

Gail takes us behind the scenes of New York magazine as only one who was there could do.

Milton Glaser

Its familiarity captivates. ...The book is a thorough remembrance of [Sheehy’s] life . . . her entire life. And she’s had a big life.

East Hampton Star

[R]emarkable ... a fascinating narrative with Gail’s voice, breathless and intense, as she tries to make sense of everything she’s done—her work, her travels, her wild giddy adventures, her sometimes intensely painful experiences.

Vanity Fair

An astonishing book! ...Those were the days, my friend; we thought they’d never end. They did, but Gail Sheehy brings them alive again.

Richard Reeves

[Sheehy’s] exuberance leaps off the page as she maps out her professional highs - interviews with world leaders, her best-seller Passages - against the backdrop of a failed first marriage and her decades-long relationship with New York magazine founder Clay Felker. A-

Entertainment Weekly

Ardent, approachable, forthright, and empathetic ... a riveting account of one woman’s exhilarating trajectory, a page-turning, powerhouse testament to resilience, perseverance, and hope.

Booklist (starred review)

Daring by Gail Sheehy is the anecdotal life of a pioneering and hardworking journalist who plunges into everything with energy and curiosity. After a lifetime of writing about other people, she takes on the most difficult assignment - herself. It’s an irresistible read.

Gloria Steinem

The love story of two superstars in the final great moment of American magazine journalism.

Tom Wolfe

Here, [Sheehy] looks back on her remarkable life with unflinching candor.

O: the Oprah Magazine

07/14/2014
An overlong memoir by the investigative journalist and prolific author Sheehy (Passages in Caregiving; Sex and the Seasoned Woman, etc.) tracks four decades of her astonishing ability to catch America’s swiftly changing moods, from undercover operations in gynecology for the New York’s Herald Tribune and prostitution for New York magazine, to books on “pop psychology” and caregiving. She attended college (the first of the women in her Westchester family to do so) in the late 1950s , married early, and worked to put her husband through medical school. Sheehy had drive and chutzpah, asking her first boss—Mr. James Cash Penney of Manhattan’s JC Penney—if he paid the “girls the same as boys.” The gritty, testosterone-fueled world of journalism attracted her, and as a single mother of a young daughter, she moved from the women’s page of the Trib to Clay Felker’s brand-new New York magazine by the late 1960s, making her name swiftly within the ranks of the New Journalists (which included talents like Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, and Joan Didion) with a piece about Bobby Kennedy shortly after his assassination. Romancing the boss turned into a long, tumultuous relationship that eventually led to marriage. Sheehy and Felker became a New York power couple, hosting Henry Kissinger and David Frost for a memorable dinner over Peking duck in 1972, and later weathering the takeover of New York by Rupert Murdoch in 1976. Passages made Sheehy a wildly popular and bestselling author, followed by her groundbreaking work on menopause, The Silent Passage. Sheehy’s ponderous chronicle dwells on her uneven relationship with the ambitious, larger-than-life Felker, whom she nurtured through his death in 2008. There is so much spectacle in terms of a cultural record that the reader loses sight of Sheehy as the focus and heroine of her own life. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

04/01/2014
Sheehy is best known for Passages, a New York Times best seller about milestone moments in adult life that was named by the Library of Congress one of the ten most influential books of our times. Here's a reminder that she is also a veteran journalist who has served as contributing editor to Vanity Fair for three decades, won the New York Newswomen's Club Front Page Award seven times, and profiled everyone from Bill and Hillary Clinton to Iraqi president Saddam Hussein—thus breaking ground for women in journalism. We also hear about her marriage to New York magazine creator Clay Felker. With a 125,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

2014-07-08
A journalist recounts her risks, fears and triumphs. Author of 16 books, Vanity Fair contributing editor Sheehy (Passages in Caregiving, 2010, etc.) has made a career out of examining life stages. Passages (1976) stayed on the New York Times' best-seller list for three years, followed by Silent Passage (1993), New Passages (1995) and Understanding Men's Passages (1999). Passages in Caregiving was motivated by the last illness of her husband, publisher Clay Felker; now, she reflects on her own transitions in a brisk, gossipy narrative complete with handsome hero (Felker), villain (Rupert Murdoch), nail-biting adventures (Bloody Sunday, for one), scores of celebrities (including interview subjects Hillary Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Bobby Kennedy and Anwar Sadat) and famous friends (Gloria Steinem, Tom Wolfe and David Frost). Like Wolfe, Sheehy is a practitioner of New Journalism. "We treated the protagonists of nonfiction stories like characters in a novel," writes Sheehy. "What was their motivation?...What was it like living inside their reality?" The author reprises her own reality in three parts: the Pygmalion Years, when she was a young, ambitious journalist trying to establish her reputation and overcome editors' prejudices about women writers, whom they commonly assigned to stories about food and style; the Passages Years, when she was a star writer for, among many other venues, Felker's New York magazine, Helen Gurley Brown's Cosmopolitan and Tina Brown's Vanity Fair; and the Bonus Years, focused on Felker's cancer and Sheehy's gradual recovery from alcohol abuse and depression following his death. After Passages, Sheehy felt she had to "justify" that success with "an academic-level study." The result was Pathfinders (1981), about people who risked "choosing the less-traveled path." Raising a daughter on her own, adopting a Cambodian girl after visiting a refugee camp and helping to found the Women's Refugee Commission to advocate for survivors of genocide are among many reasons—aside from her career choices—why Sheehy, too, is one of those audacious pathfinders. Daring, the author amply shows in this spirited life story, defines her.

Kirkus Reviews