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...