In the Land of Men

<p><strong>A fiercely personal memoir about coming of age in the male-dominated literary world of the nineties becoming the first female literary editor of <em>Esquire</em> and Miller's personal and working relationship with David Foster Wallace</strong><br/></p><p>A naive and idealistic twenty-two-year-old from the Midwest Adrienne Miller got her lucky break when she was hired as an editorial assistant at <em>GQ </em>magazine in the mid-nineties. Even if its sensibilities were manifestly mid-century--the martinis powerful male egos and unquestioned authority of kings--<em>GQ </em>still seemed the red-hot center of the literary world. It was there that Miller began learning how to survive in a man's world. Three years later she forged her own path becoming the first woman to take on the role of literary editor of <em>Esquire</em> home to the male writers who had defined manhood itself-- Hemingway Mailer and Carver. Up against this old world she would soon discover that it wanted nothing to do with a mere girl. </p><p>But this was also a unique moment in history that saw the rise of a new literary movement as exemplified by <em>McSweeney</em>'s and the work of David Foster Wallace. A decade older than Miller the mercurial Wallace would become the defining voice of a generation and the fiction writer she would work with most. He was her closest friend confidant--and antagonist. Their intellectual and artistic exchange grew into a highly charged professional and personal relationship between the most prominent male writer of the era and a young woman still finding her voice. </p><p>This memoir--a rich dazzling story of power ambition and identity--ultimately asks the question How does a young woman fit into this male culture and at what cost? With great wit and deep intelligence Miller presents an inspiring and moving portrayal of a young woman's education in a land of men.</p><p><strong>The memoir I've been waiting for: a bold incisive and illuminating story of a woman whose devotion to language and literature comes at a hideous cost. It's Joanna Rakoff's <em>My Salinger Year </em>updated for the age of <em>She Said</em>: a literary New York now long past; an intimate fiercely realist portrait of a mythic literary figure; and now a tender reckoning with possession power and what Jia Tolentino called the 'Important Inappropriate Literary Man.' A poised and superbly perceptive narration of the problems of working with men and of loving them.</strong><strong>-- Eleanor Henderson author of <em>10000 Saints</em></strong><br/></p>