Unconventional Woman

“A tale of a young woman battling the stereotype of women living and working in the ‘swinging sixties’ and a road map of how she kept sane and successful in the real world of ‘mad men.’” —Sharon Hazard, WomanAroundTown.comIt takes a special kind of woman to have the courage to defy societal conventions. In an era when her female counterparts were still expected to marry early and have children, Tania Grossinger set out on her own.After spending her childhood at the famous Grossinger’s resort in the Catskills, Tania Grossinger was the publicist for the groundbreaking The Feminine Mystique (over three million copies sold), spent seven years as the director of broadcast promotion for Playboy Magazine and the Playboy Club, did PR for The $64,000 Question, escaped her first marriage, and went to live in Mexico— and that’s only the beginning. Rubbing shoulders with some of America's most famous figures, what Tania has to reveal about Ayn Rand (she has a sense of humor after all), Timothy Leary, Hugh Hefner, and the unsolved disappearance of a fellow travel writer in Jamaica will keep you up at night turning the pages of one of the most interesting women to put pen to paper in recent memory.As she reflects on her life now, Tania is single and one of “two million of us Americans who are childless by choice.” The memoir is addressed to Natasha, on whose absence the book hinges. But who is she? Smart, sensitive, and revealing, this is a must-read memoir for any woman who has ever strived for independence.

“Precocious and intelligent . . . Grossinger does not regret the trajectory of her remarkable life, nor does she apologize for it.” —Kirkus Reviews"Her encounters with Ayn Rand, John F. Kennedy, Jackie Robinson and Timothy Leary are well-represented.... A tale of a young woman battling the stereotype of women living and working in the "swinging sixties" and a road map of how she kept sane and successful in the real world of mad men." -- Woman Around Town, “Precocious and intelligent . . . Grossinger does not regret the trajectory of her remarkable life, nor does she apologize for it.” —Kirkus Reviews"Her encounters with Ayn Rand, John F. Kennedy, Jackie Robinson and Timothy Leary are well-represented.... A tale of a young woman battling the stereotype of women living and working in the "swinging sixties" and a road map of how she kept sane and successful in the real world of mad men." -- Woman Around Town

Tania Grossinger was a freelance writer, public speaker, public relations consultant, and frequent talk show guest. She is the author of Growing Up at Grossinger’s as well as the children’s book Jackie and Me, about her friendship with the famous baseball player Jackie Robinson. Her travel articles have appeared in over one hundred newspapers and magazines. She passed away in 2015.