CANR

PERSONAL

Married January, 2012; husband’s name Andrew (a professor); children: one son.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Vassar College, 2003.

ADDRESS

• Home - Brooklyn, NY.
• Agent - David Halpern Literary Management, david@halpernliterary.com.

CAREER

Lifestyle writer, author, and editor focused on style, pop culture, and families. Wirecutter, editor; New York Post, features editor and reporter. Formerly worked as a cocktail waitress at Spice Market, New York, NY, and as an editorial consultant for a publishing firm.

AVOCATIONS:

Fashion, food, style, women’s issues, pop culture, and New York.

MEMBER:

Phi Beta Kappa.

WRITINGS

• Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2012
• Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds, Harper (New York, NY), 2016
• The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us, Atria (New York, NY), 2024

Contributor to the blog Saucy Little Dish. Contributor of fiction and nonfiction to periodicals, including The Awl, New York Times, Forbes.com, Bloomberg View, Dirty Durty Diary, Flashquake, Fresh Yarn, HelloGiggles, Running with Heels, Slate DoubleX, Slice, NPR’s Weekend Edition and Marketplace, Bloomberg View, Racked, and WSJ Speakeasy.

SIDELIGHTS

New York-based writer and editor Rachelle Bergstein is the author of Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us, an appreciation and a history of footwear from the early twentieth century to the present day. “Red-soled Louboutins, classic Mary Janes, sky-high Alexander McQueen wedges: Whether or not we can afford them, most women can say that at one point or another, we’ve drooled over them,” declared New York Post reviewer Susannah Cahalan. “Our love affair with shoes began in ancient Greece when people of high station wore elevated heels. But they didn’t rise to the level of lust until the early 20th century, when factories were able to make a variety of shoes cheaply.” “Readers will discover,” declared Holly Hebert, writing in Library Journal, “how economics, war, and the collective mood of society affected the design of women’s and also men’s shoes.” “But why does footwear—as compared to jewelry or fancy dresses—capture so many imaginations?” asked Cahalan. “As Bergstein points out: Shoes are about more than just adornment, they’re wrapped up in history, prevailing notions of femininity and the role of women in society.”

The modern obsession with footwear began, Bergstein explains, after shoe making became cheap enough that many women could afford multiple pairs of shoes. “Bergstein traces the origins of this modern-day mania to Salvatore Ferragamo, who, by the 1930s, had ‘put Italy on the footwear map’ by becoming shoemaker to Hollywood stars,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. “Trotted out chronologically,” stated Olivia Barker in a USA Today review, “are tales tracing Salvatore Ferragamo’s humble beginnings … and his emergence as Hollywood’s sultan of stilettos. Lana Turner’s white, open-toed pumps in The Postman Always Rings Twice? Those were his.”

Shoes continued to evolve through World War II—when metal rationing forced designers to use different materials in their products—and into the second half of the twentieth century. “The evolution of women’s shoes since WWII becomes the story of women’s self-empowerment in this engaging, toe-to-heel study by editorial consultant Bergstein,” wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer. “As women reach and begin to punch through that glass ceiling, style grows into an important factor in challenging men for positions in upper management—and classic suits and high heels send a clear message: I am woman, hear me roar,” stated Judith Reveal in the New York Journal of Books. “Not until a transit strike in New York City would any up-and-coming female executive ever think of adding sports shoes to her business ensemble. That strike makes a new place for the walking shoe, and with it, fitness gyms become a second habitat for women.” Women from the Ankle Down, stated Barbara Jacobs in Booklist, is “a charmingly interwoven story of the past 100 years, detailing a bit of the psychology behind different styles.”

In 2016, Bergstein released Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds. In an interview with Michelle Orman, for the JA New York Web site, she explained how she became inspired to write the book: “I thought about engagement rings, and how they’d become such a loaded symbol and I wondered why that was. I came across some research about the N.W. Ayer campaign, and the idea just started growing. Nobody has written a book on diamonds for the twenty-first century that gives a balanced portrait of both the dark side of diamonds, and also why they are the object of such beauty. Diamonds have no real function (gems, anyway), but they’re highly valued for their symbolicalness, and that’s what got me started.” Bergstein opens the book with a discussion of diamonds’ rise in popularity during the Gilded Age when large deposits of the stones were being mined in South Africa. She profiles the De Beers organization, which has controlled much of the world’s supply of diamonds for over a century. Other topics in the book include influential jewelers, celebrity culture, and the tradition of giving diamond rings when becoming engaged.

Sarah Grant, a reviewer in Booklist, commented: “Bergstein’s purview is so broad and her writing so accessible that her compelling exploration … should find a broad readership.” A Publishers Weekly critic suggested: “Bergstein’s account weaves disparate elements, including celebrity gossip, South African apartheid, and global economics, into a highly entertaining product.” “Bergstein’s book is an informative, well-written, and entertaining window onto another way of life,” asserted a writer in Kirkus Reviews. Library Journal contributor Rebekah Kati described the volume as “a captivating look into the world of diamonds that will be of interest to all readers.” Jeffrey Felner, a reviewer on the New York Journal of Books Web site, remarked: “This exhaustively and comprehensively researched book becomes more like a story rather than a lesson in the history of diamonds.”

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In 2024, Bergstein next published The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us, a biography of Blume, who wrote novels for young adults, such as the iconic and controversial Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret; Deenie; and Blubber. A restless 1960s suburban housewife, Blume wrote books featuring everyday teenagers with authentic problems, emotions, and issues. Many of her topics that encompassed the 1960s and ’70s sexual revolution, such as adolescent sexuality, the women’s rights movement, premarital sex, and masturbation, attracted protests, censorship, and book bans. By the mid-1980s, Blume was declared America’s most-banned author. While Blume’s books have been popular into the 20th century, Bergstein writes that she continues to be the target of groups aiming to ban books for children and teens. On her Rachelle Bergstein homepage, Bergstein stated, “Inspired by Blume’s longtime fight against book bans, I’m following the current politically charged book banning crisis.”

The release of Blume’s books often coincided with society’s changing views about women’s social status and the Supreme Court’s decision to legalized access to contraception for unmarried people. Through interviews with librarians and educators, Bergstein analyses how Blume’s books change the way readers understand adolescence, as well as other issues like the right of girls and women to have careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships, and sexual pleasure.

“Braiding together cultural context, Blume’s biography, and literary analysis,” the book is “a timely appreciation” revealing Bergstein’s “personal admiration for the groundbreaking author and her thematic mission,” according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Calling the book a satisfying tribute, a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted: “Bergstein offers a thoughtful take on how Blume’s life and books translated for young people the gains of the women’s movement,” and said that Blume fans will treasure the book.

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BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Booklist, May 15, 2012, Barbara Jacobs, review of Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us, p. 7; May 15, 2016, Sarah Grant, review of Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds, p. 7.

• Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2012, review of Women from the Ankle Down; April 15, 2016, review of Brilliance and Fire; May 15, 2024, review of The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us.

• Library Journal, April 15, 2012, Holly Hebert, review of Women from the Ankle Down, p. 94; April 1, 2016, Rebekah Kati, review of Brilliance and Fire, p. 109.

• New York Post, May 12, 2012, Susannah Cahalan, review of Women from the Ankle Down.

• Publishers Weekly, February 27, 2012, review of Women from the Ankle Down, p. 69; April 25, 2016, review of Brilliance and Fire, p. 79.

• USA Today, June 10, 2012, Olivia Barker, review of Women from the Ankle Down.

ONLINE

• Court Jeweller, http://www.thecourtjeweller.com/ (October 27, 2016), review of Brilliance and Fire.

• Forbes Online, https://www.forbes.com/ (April 13, 2017), author profile.

• JA New York, https://www.jewelry-logic.com/ (July 19, 2016), Michelle Orman, author interview.

• Jewish Book Council Web site, http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/ (January 23, 2013), author profile.

• New York Journal of Books, http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/ (May 29, 2012), Judith Reveal, review of Women from the Ankle Down; (April 13, 2017), Jeffrey Felner, review of Brilliance and Fire.

• New York Post Online, http://nypost.com/ (June 11, 2016), Mackenzie Dawson, review of Brilliance and Fire.

• Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (May 2024), review of The Genius of Judy.

• Rachelle Bergstein Home Page, http://rachellebergstein.com (April 13, 2017).*