Barbieland: The Unauthorized History - Tarpley Hitt

For readers of The Secret History of Wonder Woman and DisneyWar, a fresh new history of Mattel’s Barbie. In June of 1952, German publishing tycoon Axel Springer was sending a new paper to a four-page broadsheet he’d dubbed Bild Zeitung. The paper—image-heavy, emotional, and primed to contend with a burgeoning competitor called television—was almost ready, save for a narrow blank on the second page. With minutes to spare, Springer commissioned a one-block cartoon of a petite blonde with a predile