Queen of the Pulps

Daisy Bacon, the opinionated, autocratic and complex editor of Love Story Magazine from 1928 to 1947, chose the stories that would be read by hundreds of thousands of readers each week. The first weekly periodical devoted to romance fiction and the biggest-selling pulp fiction magazine in the early days of the Great Depression, Love Story sparked a wave of imitators that dominated newsstands for more than twenty years. Disparaged as a "love pulp," the magazine actually championed the "modern girl," bringing its heroines out of the shadows of Victorian poverty and into the 20th century. With Love Story's success, Bacon became a national spokesperson, declaring that the modern woman could have it all--in love, in marriage and in the business world. Yet Bacon herself struggled to achieve that ideal, especially in her own romantic life, built around a long-term affair with a married man. Drawing on exclusive access to her personal papers, this first-ever biography tells the story behind the woman who influenced millions of others to pursue independence in their careers and in their relationships.