Phoebe Lou Adams

In 1962, a member of The Atlantic's editorial staff submitted herself to the full treatment of New York's most famous beauty salon. She emerged refreshed and impressed, with this story to tell.

by Da Chen. Random House, 320 pages, $25.00.

by Laurie Winn Carlson.Ivan R. Dee, 197 pages, $24.95.

by Thomas Morton of "Merrymount," edited by Jack Dempsey. Digital Scanning, Inc., 650 pages,$59.95/$39.95.

by Brooke Kroeger. Times Books, 496 pages, $30.00.

by Burton Silver and Heather Busch. Chronicle, 96 pages, $16.95.

photographs by R. Valentine Atkinson,foreword by Nick Lyons. Lyons Press, 176 pages, $39.95.