Breakthrough opportunity or dead-end busy work?

Millions of women have held the position of secretary, withstanding criticism for abandoning their rightful sphere (the home), weathering the dubious advice of secretarial guidebooks, and seeing their fictional selves achieve stardom in everything from romance novels to television shows like The Office and Mad Men. In Swimming in the Steno Pool, author-secretary Lynn Peril delivers a feisty, witty celebration of the women who have been running the show for decades.

“The author’s study is packed with witty anecdotes drawn from multiple eras, and lavish images and illustrations accompany her lively prose. Peril examines the changing perspective of female competence in the workplace, from its start in the battlefield to the offices of the future. The author highlights the challenges women faced at the office, and the problems women must still reckon with even in the most forward-thinking companies of this era—including the seemingly insignificant question of whose responsibility it is to put on a pot of coffee.” Kirkus Reviews

“A totally enjoyable and often funny romp through time ... ” Booklist

“The title of Lynn Peril's newest book might lead one to expect a kind of novelty how-to manual full of advice for lady office workers in the Mad Men days, adapted for the realities of contemporary cubicle dwellers. That's not what Swimming in the Steno Pool is about--but there are plenty of lessons to be drawn from its entertaining history of the secretary.” Bitch Magazine