Movies: Kathy Peiss

Tracking the country’s oldest beauty contest—from its inception in 1921 as a local seaside pageant to its heyday as one of the country’s most popular events—Miss America paints a vivid picture of an institution that has come to reveal much about a ch...

BEAUTY IN A JAR explores the social, racial, sexual and political history of the American beauty culture. How was the American ideal of beauty transformed over time? How does advertising tap into women's fantasies and hidden desires?...