Women in American Culture: Female Politicians

Alex Kuczynski

Alex Kuczynski writes for The New York Times, where she contributes to the styles section, book review, and magazine. She also writes a column called "Obsessions" for The New York Times Style Magazine. She worked as a daily reporter for the Times for nine years, covering such topics as Botox, Britney Spears, and Buddhism. As a media reporter for the business section for four years, she wrote about the magazine industry and corporate mega-mergers. She is the author of Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession with Cosmetic Surgery, and she is working on a new nonfiction book.

Dana Thomas

Dana Thomas is a contributing editor at Conde Nast Portfolio. From 1996 to the beginning of 2008, she was the Paris-based cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek. She is the author of The New York Times best-selling book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster. She has written about style for The New York Times Magazine since 1994, and has contributed to various publications, including The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, The Washington Post and the Financial Times. She is a member of the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris and the Overseas Press Club. She taught journalism at The American University of Paris from 1996 to 1999. In 1987, she received the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Scholarship and the Ellis Haller Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism.