I've written several blog posts in the past few years about Alabama-related books that have become victims of the downsizing of my personal library. That effort continues at greater speed, and I came across this title just the other day. So here we are.
I'm not sure why or where I bought this book, which has been on the shelves for a long time. For many years I bought all sorts of stuff related to Alabama, and I guess the phrase "grew up in Montgomery, Alabama" caught my eye.
This title is the author's 1981 memoir about her addiction to prescription medications. Mary Ann Crenshaw was born in Montgomery on April 18, 1929, and headed north "to conquer New York" after graduation from Vanderbilt University in 1951. Beginning in 1959 she worked for several years as a fashion writer at Vogue magazine and then as fashion coordinator at Ohrbach's department store. After that position, she worked for over a decade as fashion and beauty reporter at the New York Times.
Crenshaw overcame her addiction and documented her struggle in this book. During her life she published several other books, including The Natural Way to Super Beauty in 1974. She eventually left New York for Santa Fe, where she operated a public relations firm and collected Native and Outsider art.
In this memoir Crenshaw devoted only a brief chapter to her youth and college experiences; the pages can be read below. Interestingly, I don't think she mentions Montgomery at all and refers to Nashville but not Vanderbilt. I wonder why the book jacket even says "grew up in Montgomery, Alabama" instead of something more generic like "grew up in the South."
Mary Ann Crenshaw died on September 18, 2018, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery.
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