Alexandra Robbins - Home
 
"I was hooked" - The New York Times Book Review
  On The Overachievers: "Impossible to put down" - People
"Quick and riveting" - Entertainment Weekly
"Engrossing . . . An easy read" - Publisher's Weekly
"Compelling investigative journalism" - BookPage

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Reviews

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"[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

"Funny but alarming" — People

"We've all heard the sordid tales coming out of the Greek scene ? the heavy drinking, the startlingly old-fashioned values, the exclusivity and racism, the date rapes, the hazing deaths. Robbins folds all of these weightier issues into her narrative, while also offering an often humorous snapshot of today's college youth." — Salon

"Fascinating and, in the end, highly alarming. Pledged is amazing in the same way that reality TV is amazing: It's the car crash you can't take your eyes off of. . . . Every parent of a college-bound daughter should read this book. And Alexandra Robbins: You go girl." — The New Republic

"Alexandra Robbins rips into the secret, sordid underbelly of sororities." — Vanity Fair

"Compelling reading..." — The Atlanta Journal Constitution

"A juicy read" — Pensacola News Journal

"Fascinating look at sororities" — CNN

"The wild sorority sisters in Pledged make the brothers of Delta House look like altar boys." — Time Out New York

"Cosmo contributor, Oprah guest, and Skull and Bones investigator Robbins offers a titillating take on sisterhood gone mad." — Kirkus

"Racy" — Newsday

"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