What Do We Need Men For? ― A Modest Proposal

A darkly funny and very personal attempt to answer the question by America's longest running advice columnist

When E. Jean Carroll—possibly the liveliest woman in the world and author of Ask E. Jean in Elle Magazine — realized that her eight million readers and question-writers all seemed to have one thing in common—problems caused by men—she hit the road. Criss-crossing the country with her blue-haired poodle Lewis Carroll, E. Jean stopped in every town named after a woman between Eden, Vermont and Tallulah, Louisiana to ask women the crucial question: What Do We Need Men For?

E. Jean gave her rollicking road trip a sly, stylish turn when she deepened the story, creating a list called “The Most Hideous Men of My Life,” and began to reflect on her own sometimes very dark history with the opposite sex. What advice would she have given to her past selves—as Miss Cheerleader USA and Miss Indiana University? Or as the fearless journalist, television host and eventual advice columnist she became? E. Jean intertwines the stories of the outspoken people she meets on her road trip with her own history of bad behavior (from mafia bosses, media titans, boyfriends, husbands, a serial killer, and others) creating a decidedly dark yet hopeful, hilarious and thrilling narrative. Her answer to the question What Do We Need Men For? will shock men and delight women.

E. Jean Carroll writes the longest, currently-running advice column in the U.S., Ask E. Jean. It has 8 million readers. She has been published in New York, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Esquire, Outside, and was the first female Contributing Editor at Playboy. She wrote for Saturday Night Live, was the host of the Ask E. Jean TV show, and is a frequent guest on The Today Show. She is the founder of Tawkify, Inc. E. Jean lives in a cabin on an island in the Wawayanda Mountains north of New York City.