Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols is professor of Spanish at Drury University.

There are few studies that cover the lives, texts and contexts of Venezuelan women with the same clarity and erudition. Nichols shows the possibility of applying intersectionality as a tool of analysis to reflect on the construction of identity and capture the complexity of power relations, which is reflected in national public life around the female body. Beauty, Virtue, Power and Success in Venezuela 1850-2015 is an indispensable work for the investigation of beauty as a social phenomenon capable of promoting radical changes in the identity profile of a national community. [Translated from original Spanish]

• Part I: 1850–1890Chapter 1: Productive Heterosexuality and Feminine Beauty in the Nineteenth CenturyChapter 2: Mercedes Mutis de Ibarra: The Powerlessness of Old AgeChapter 3: Ana Teresa Ibarra de Guzmán: The (Irate) Caged BirdPart II: 1910–1950Chapter 4: The Ideal Mother: Decent Girls with Good Hair in the Early Twentieth CenturyChapter 5: Teresa de la Parra: The Arduous Duty to Appear BeautifulChapter 6: Antonia Palacios: Learning to Be DecentePart III: 1960–1999Chapter 7: Modern Beauty Pageants and Contests: Individual and Collective IdentityChapter 8: Blonde and Wealthy: Strategic BeautyChapter 9: Stefania Mosca, Belén Valarino, and Lidia Rebrij: Cosmo GirlsPart IV: 2000–2015Chapter 10: 100% Chic: Dressing Well to Guarantee Success in the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 11: “Exotic” and Poor: Practical BeautyChapter 12: Plastic Surgery: Beauty and Consumption in Twenty-First Century Venezuela

Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols is professor of Spanish at Drury University.

There are few studies that cover the lives, texts and contexts of Venezuelan women with the same clarity and erudition. Nichols shows the possibility of applying intersectionality as a tool of analysis to reflect on the construction of identity and capture the complexity of power relations, which is reflected in national public life around the female body. Beauty, Virtue, Power and Success in Venezuela 1850-2015 is an indispensable work for the investigation of beauty as a social phenomenon capable of promoting radical changes in the identity profile of a national community. [Translated from original Spanish]

• Part I: 1850–1890Chapter 1: Productive Heterosexuality and Feminine Beauty in the Nineteenth CenturyChapter 2: Mercedes Mutis de Ibarra: The Powerlessness of Old AgeChapter 3: Ana Teresa Ibarra de Guzmán: The (Irate) Caged BirdPart II: 1910–1950Chapter 4: The Ideal Mother: Decent Girls with Good Hair in the Early Twentieth CenturyChapter 5: Teresa de la Parra: The Arduous Duty to Appear BeautifulChapter 6: Antonia Palacios: Learning to Be DecentePart III: 1960–1999Chapter 7: Modern Beauty Pageants and Contests: Individual and Collective IdentityChapter 8: Blonde and Wealthy: Strategic BeautyChapter 9: Stefania Mosca, Belén Valarino, and Lidia Rebrij: Cosmo GirlsPart IV: 2000–2015Chapter 10: 100% Chic: Dressing Well to Guarantee Success in the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 11: “Exotic” and Poor: Practical BeautyChapter 12: Plastic Surgery: Beauty and Consumption in Twenty-First Century Venezuela

Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols is professor of Spanish at Drury University.

There are few studies that cover the lives, texts and contexts of Venezuelan women with the same clarity and erudition. Nichols shows the possibility of applying intersectionality as a tool of analysis to reflect on the construction of identity and capture the complexity of power relations, which is reflected in national public life around the female body. Beauty, Virtue, Power and Success in Venezuela 1850-2015 is an indispensable work for the investigation of beauty as a social phenomenon capable of promoting radical changes in the identity profile of a national community. [Translated from original Spanish]

• Part I: 1850–1890Chapter 1: Productive Heterosexuality and Feminine Beauty in the Nineteenth CenturyChapter 2: Mercedes Mutis de Ibarra: The Powerlessness of Old AgeChapter 3: Ana Teresa Ibarra de Guzmán: The (Irate) Caged BirdPart II: 1910–1950Chapter 4: The Ideal Mother: Decent Girls with Good Hair in the Early Twentieth CenturyChapter 5: Teresa de la Parra: The Arduous Duty to Appear BeautifulChapter 6: Antonia Palacios: Learning to Be DecentePart III: 1960–1999Chapter 7: Modern Beauty Pageants and Contests: Individual and Collective IdentityChapter 8: Blonde and Wealthy: Strategic BeautyChapter 9: Stefania Mosca, Belén Valarino, and Lidia Rebrij: Cosmo GirlsPart IV: 2000–2015Chapter 10: 100% Chic: Dressing Well to Guarantee Success in the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 11: “Exotic” and Poor: Practical BeautyChapter 12: Plastic Surgery: Beauty and Consumption in Twenty-First Century Venezuela