That's what the NY Times said in reviewing her book Middletown America, a sensitive portrayal of the passage from trauma to hope among families of victims of 9-11. As a cultural observer and best-selling author of 15 books, Gail Sheehy has changed the way millions of people look at their lives. Her original landmark work, Passages, made history, remaining on The New York Times best seller list for more than three years and was reprinted in 28 languages. A Library of Congress survey named Passages one of the ten most influential books of our time. Celebrating 30 years of historic influence, Random House has re-issued Passages in 2006 for a whole new generation.

In Sheehy's most groundbreaking work since Passages, Sex and the Seasoned Woman: Pursuing the Passionate Life, she reports on the emergence of a new phenomenon among middle-aged boomer women. Traveling across the country Sheehy spoke with women from their 40s to their 90s about sex after 50, midlife dating, new dreams, divorce, remarriage, spiritual growth, and seeking ways to live more passionately in the second half of their lives. Three days after her book tour began, her publisher was confident the book would hit the best seller list and went back to reprint.  

Sheehy herself says, "the book is only the beginning." She hopes to start a movement by connecting Seasoned Women around the world through her new website, Seasoned Woman's Network (www.seasonedwomansnetwork.com), a forum for conversations, inspirations, and exchange of life experience with pursuing a passionate life. She encourages women to start their own local Seasoned Women's Groups and follow the readers guide to the book, featured on her website.

In Sheehy's previous best sellers, such as The Silent Passage, she broke the taboo surrounding menopause and opened a dialogue vital to maturing women's health. In New Passages and Understanding Men's Passages, she revisited the stages of adult life and mapped out a completely new frontier entitled "Second Adulthood." In 1999, she culminated a decade of Hillary-watching with the biography, Hillary's Choice, exploring the life of one of the world's most intriguing women.     

As a literary journalist, Sheehy was one of the original contributors to New York magazine. A contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 1984, she won the Washington Journalism Review Award for Best Magazine Writer in America for her in-depth character portraits of national and world leaders, including both Presidents Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Margaret Thatcher, Saddam Hussein, and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Sheehy is a seven-time recipient of the New York Newswomen's Club Front Page Award for distinguished journalism, most recently for her Vanity Fair article "September Widows." Other honors include the National Magazine Award, the Penny-Missouri Journalism Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Race Relations for her book, Spirit of Survival. She is one of the founders of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women.  

One of the most popular speakers on the lecture circuit, Sheehy offers dynamic programs based on her groundbreaking investigations and observations of the lives of men and women within different phases of their lives. She is also a provocative speaker on women's health issues, and on how and why companies can survive global competition with a WWW strategy-Winning With Women.

TOPICS:
SEX AND THE SEASONED WOMAN: Pursuing the Passionate Life
IS AGING REALLY NECESSARY?: Secrets of Healthy, Happy, and Passionate Aging
WWW: How Your Company Will Win With Women
REHIRE, NOT RETIRE! Seasoned Women and Marinated Men Changing the Face of the Workplace
DO I DARE TO EAT A PEACH?: Finding a New Dream for the Second Half of your Life.