Laura Shapiro once wrote in Newsweek that although Dr. Mary Pipher has "been on Today and Oprah, and numbers [senator and former first lady] Hillary Clinton among her fans, [she] is probably the least glamorous candidate for guruhood who's ever been hooked to a mike." But that's exactly what this middle-aged clinical psychologist-turned-author became as a result of her "self-help" book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. The themes Pipher deals with clearly struck a responsive chord with readers; the 1994 book was on the New York Times bestseller list for almost three years, holding a top spot in the nonfiction category for twenty-eight weeks.
Sara Martin, the editor of the American Psychological Association Monitor, explained the astounding popularity of Reviving Ophelia by pointing out that "[Pipher] opened America's eyes to the psychological toll that adolescent girls face growing up in a country rife with sexual abuse, school violence and an overwhelming pressure to be thin." Marge Scherer, writing in the teaching journal Educational Leadership, echoed those thoughts when she noted: "Although ominous, [Pipher's] words resonate with parents, teachers, and young people alike, perhaps because her solutions are sane and simple and within our reach."
Reviving Ophelia is actually Pipher's second book; the first was the self-published Hunger Pains (reprinted commercially in 1997 in the wake of the runaway success of Reviving Ophelia), a critical examination of the modern woman's obsession with body image, thinness, and weight loss.
