A witty, razor-sharp cultural critique of white women's hair-and the politics it quietly carries
In Tangled, acclaimed cultural critic Sarah Mesle unpacks the surprising power of white women's hair in shaping American identity, politics, and pop culture. From rom-coms to TikToks, blowouts to legislation, Mesle explores how hair-often dismissed as trivial-has been a stealth vehicle for transmitting whiteness, privilege, and conservative values.
White women's hair evokes pleasure, pride, anxiety, and envy. But unlike women of color, who navigate hair as a deeply political terrain, white women often treat their styles as purely aesthetic. Mesle argues that this perceived innocence is precisely what makes white women's hair so potent-and so dangerous.
Through 7 iconic hair moments spanning the Reagan era to Trump's rise, Tangled blends personal essay with cultural analysis, revealing how hair has mirrored-and fueled-the rollback of feminist progress. With wit, depth, and originality, Mesle invites readers to rethink what hair has done in America-and what it could do differently.
Smart, funny, and fiercely insightful, Tangled is essential reading for anyone interested in feminism, race, media, and the hidden politics of beauty. Sarah Mesle is associate professor of writing at the University of Southern California and the author of Reasons and Feelings: Writing for the Humanities Now. The former senior humanities editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Mesle is also the founding co-editor of the LARB channel Avidly and the short-books series Avidly Reads. Mesle's writing about gender, media, and culture has appeared in venues ranging from Studies in American Fiction and InStyle to the New York Times Magazine.
