An Evening with Tarpley Hitt author of Barbieland: The Unauthorized History

An evening with Tarpley Hitt, who will discuss her book Barbieland: The Unauthorized History.

Rescheduled from December 3, 2025

In June of 1952, German publishing tycoon Axel Springer was sending a new paper to print: a four-page broadsheet that was almost ready, save for a narrow blank on the second page. With minutes to spare, Springer commissioned a one-block cartoon of a petite blonde with a predilection for rich men. That blonde was named “Lilli.” But in a span of seven short years, she would be reborn in plastic, across an ocean, and under a different name: Barbara Millicent Roberts.

Barbie’s conquest of the toy market did not happen by accident. It is the byproduct of meticulous marketing, occasional backstabbing, squadrons of designers with strong opinions on coral lip shades, and covert corporate maneuvers—many of which replicate, in miniature, the economic trajectory of the country Barbie seems to represent.

Registration required.

Book sale and signing by Elm Street Books.

Tarpley Hitt is a journalist in New York City, where she is an editor at and contributor to The Drift magazine. She has previously reported on culture and money for The Daily Beast and Gawker, and her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Bookforum, The Paris Review, The Guardian, Air Mail, Deseret Magazine, and Miami New Times.