A seasoned journalist and author of 17 books, Gail Sheehy reflects on the obstacles and opportunities that shaped her life in her memoir Daring: My Passages. Sheehy, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 1984, has written in-depth character profiles of numerous leaders, including Bobby Kennedy, Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher and Hillary Clinton.

In Daring, Sheehy recounts events that shaped her own life and career. She posed as a prostitute for an exposé on prostitutes and their pimps, and adopted a Cambodian daughter after traveling there to research a story on the refugee children who survived Pol Pot’s genocide. At the center of the memoir is her relationship with Clay Felker, the charismatic creator of New York magazine, her editor-turned-husband for twenty-two years until his death in 2008.

Her first book, Passages, published in 1976, remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for more than three years and was named by the Library of Congress as one of the ten most influential books of our time. As Sheehy forged a path into the male-dominated world of journalism, she became an icon for both women and men striving to attain success in their careers and personal lives.