Books After Magazines

The question “Will I ever be happy?” appears in red Crayola scrawl across a two-page spread, in between photoshoots for camo-themed clothing and swimsuits. This is the January 1994 issue of Mademoiselle magazine, featuring an essay by Elizabeth Wurtzel—a 26-year-old Harvard grad who’d somehow already worked as a music critic for The New Yorker—on her depression, her parents’ divorce, and Prozac. Readers sent in a flurry of letters about how much they loved or hated it. Editors got in touch. By September, Wurtzel had published her first book.