A Library Journal 2020 Title to Watch | A Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book
“Vigorously researched and wryly humorous. . . . This incisive and entertaining history deserves the spotlight.” —Publishers Weekly
“Journalist Mifflin offers a lively and probing appraisal of a pageant that will observe its centennial in 2021.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Margot Mifflin is the perfect tour-guide on this journey through America’s fundamentals: cheesecake, capitalism, racism, sexism, ambition, and old-school, unabashed glamor. I couldn’t put it down.”
—Karen Abbott, author of New York Times bestseller The Ghosts of Eden Park
“Looking for Miss America showcases the trivia and the politics of this odd contest—but the depiction of its contestants’ humanity is where Mifflin really shines. I wholeheartedly recommend this to book clubs and curious readers alike.”
—Therese Anne Fowler, author of A Good Neighborhood