Reviews

More Reviews To Come

"[An] often startling study of college sororities.... Robbins's book, both fascinating and eye opening, tells us a great deal about well-to-do young women in America and about the pressures on them.... Robbins is a 1998 Yale graduate who has become something of a media celebrity largely due to her two earlier nonfiction books, both of which dealt with various aspects of collegiate or post-collegiate life. Robbins writes with empathy and affection for her college-age subjects... many of whom are "sweet, smart, successful and kind.

The appeal of the book is... in its fly-on-the-wall details, reminiscent at times of reality TV.... Pledged is still a powerful warning and an astonishing slice of American life."
Washington Monthly, April 2004

"Outside my Sorority Life obsession, I didn't know much about the Greek world -- I had my stereotypes, but I wasn't too familiar with the facts. Then I read Alexandra Robbins' Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities (Hyperion $24). For her exposé, Robbins went undercover as a college student, after being told that Greek organizations don't talk to the press. The narrative, which follows these girls through pledge hazing, hook-ups, sister drama, and date rape, is better than reality TV - it's riveting."
Elle Girl, April 2004

"This book is a juicy expose on one (unnamed) university's Greek system. Alexandra spent a school year following four girls through two sororities, where everybody diets like crazy, has random hookups, and drinks a lot. . . . You have to read these shocking true stories."
YM, April 2004

"Robbins' account of life inside the sorority house . . . makes for fascinating reading. . . . Where the author really scores is in her analysis of why otherwise intelligent and sensitive women would sacrifice their independence, and often self-respect, for the sake of an artificially engineered secret society."
Booklist, March 2004