Chambers Encyclopaedia, 1872-1873 edition

From her first appearance in the mid-19th century, the college girl has been a lightning rod for criticism, advice, and regulation--not to mention some enduring pop-cultural images. Was she a geek who wears glasses? Or a sex kitten in a teddy? College became a place where women found self-esteem, yet films like Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) and rafts of naughty pictorials in men's magazines reflected a lingering distrust of the educated woman. Following in the footsteps of Pink Think, Peril combines women's history and popular culture - illustrated with examples of femoribilia from the turn of the 20th century through the 1970s and beyond - in an intelligent and witty study of the college girl.

A New York Times Editor's Choice

"...an ambitious dig through collegiate history."

Bitch, Winter 2007

"Peril is as funny and knowledgeable a campus guide as anyone could hope to have--as comfortable discussing fashion as critiquing novels, and ever ready with a well-timed sarcastic aside--and College Girls manages to be simultaneously serious, silly, and inspiring."

The Brooklyn Rail, November 2006

Read an interview with Lynn Peril at the Atlantic Online.

"Peril's witty, irreverent style, her generous use of old advertisements and photos and her careful footnotes make this text unusually user-friendly."

Publishers Weekly