If you've ever heard Nora Ephron hold forth on television, or read her excellent pieces in Esquire and New York magazine—many of which are collected in Crazy Salad—you know her unpredictable and trenchant take on any subject and her unique voice: smart, witty, and confidential. And her voice—written or verbal—is backed by a brilliant, restless mind….

Although Ephron modestly claims that "this book is not intended to be any sort of definitive history of women in the early 1970s; it's just some things I wanted to write about," I prefer to think that she is one of our serious social critics. These essays are the work of a journalist who has assigned herself the task of commenting on popular (female) culture. And I'm glad that such a smart person is on the story.