Back in 1972, when I signed on at Ms. magazine, our mission was to document the history women were making every day. Early detractors, like newsman Harry Reasoner, dismissed those efforts by pronouncing the material too sparse to sustain a magazine for more than a few issues. But Ms. kept on filling its pages. It became the place to find out about women athletes, women scientists and executives as well as the brave rebels who were speaking truth to power — women who went unremarked in the rest of the media.

Also unremarked were women whose accomplishments had been lost to history, because no matter how awe-inspiring a woman’s story would have been if she were a man, it was rarely deemed worth including in the record of human accomplishments; if it had been suggested back in the seventies, the phrase “women’s history” would have been considered an oxymoron.

Marlo Thomas
The Huffington Post
June 13, 2012

You can’t judge a book by its cover. But you can absolutely judge a magazine that way — because the cover is a good indication of what the magazine cares about. And that is precisely, why 40 years ago, women everywhere began grabbing up Ms. magazine with both hands. From the start — and continuing today — those covers have instantly told you that Ms. cared about what women cared about. With an editorial team staffed with revolutionaries, Ms. not only had the wisdom to imagine the perfect combination of image and cover line to capture the concept of an important issue; it also had chops to bang out the story.

OUR 2010 “CIRCLE OF TRUST HOLIDAY BOOK LIST”

Many of us are starting our Holiday Book-Gifting lists! I am making my own list and adding to it daily. And, I am checking in with my Circle of Trust.

What are you reading? What books do want to give? What books would like to receive this year?