Summary

On April 15th, 1965, Joan is thrilled to hear of Imogen's successful surgery and admits that she is not going to censor herself just because Francis is reading the letters aloud while apologizing if things are too female. She reveals that she was asked by a senior male editor to interview Helen Gurley Brown who wrote "Sex and the Single Girl." Joan describes herself as an elephant compared to the dainty Mrs. Brown and admits she was nervously thinking that Mrs. Brown would sense Joan's criticism of her book. She also felt inadequate as another, more famous journalist named Joan Didion- who once wrote a famous article about self-respect- had just interviewed Mrs. Brown and she would be going to Johnny Carson next. However, Joan was surprised that Mrs. Brown was not talking about women preparing work lunches for seduction, but as an...