Live from Atlantic City: The Miss America Pageant Before, After, and In Spite of Television

A great American institution; the bane of feminist ideology; a cornucopia of corn—few are neutral about the Miss America Pageant. Live from Atlantic City traces the pageant’s history from its birth as pseudo-event in 1920 through its emergence as American popular culture icon.
    A. R. Riverol takes the reader to times and places where no television camera has focused. Drawing upon (and sometimes debating with) primary and secondary sources, the author paints a vivid picture of life in Atlantic City during pageant week—whether that week be in 1944 or 1984. More than just chronicling events, the author also presents two opposing perspectives on the pageant: the pageant as celebration and idealization of American womanhood and the pageant as sexist, exploitative anachronism.