My guest today is Dr. Hilary Levey Friedman, Brown University professor and author of the new book Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America. I had a chance to read the book and was so eager to discuss it, in particular because of the ways in which public conceptions of beauty pageants overlap substantially with public conceptions of romance. We talk about pageants, history, popular culture, and several surprising elements of the culture of Miss America - for example, the number of former pageant contestants who go into politics and public service....Music: purple-planet.com Join our Patreon for complete mayhem, shenanigans, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.