What to read when you miss 'Mad Men'
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"Mad Men" has knocked back its last Old Fashioned. Matthew Weiner's bourbon-soaked trip down memory lane to the 1960s aired its final episode last Sunday.
The critically acclaimed series ran for seven seasons, bringing viewers into the lives of Don Draper, Peggy Olson, Pete Campbell and others as they negotiated office politics and American politics while working in the advertising industry.
Fans left wanting more of the period drama will find familiar echoes of the show in these books from the era.
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A reading list for "Mad Men" fans left wanting more
"Bullet Park" by John Cheever
The crew at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce made a living selling the American dream — Cheever is adept at destroying it. In "Bullet Park," he picks apart the dangers lurking in the suburbs with a keen and morbid sense of humor. (Weiner actually paid homage to the novel in "Mad Men" — the Drapers lived on Bullet Park Road.)
"The Best of Everything" by Rona Jaffe
Fans of Peggy and Joan will devour Jaffe's story of five young women fighting to make it in the New York publishing scene. Sexism and feminism clash in a fast paced, can't-put-it-down classic.
"Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates
Relationships in "Mad Men" rarely had a happy ending, and this portrait of a claustrophobic marriage from 1961 falls right in line. Yates takes another swing at the myth of suburban paradise and strikes hard.
"Confessions of an Advertising Man" by David Ogilvy
Ogilvy is often hailed as the father of advertising — his book became the bible of ad executives throughout the 1960s. It's still considered required reading for many in the field. Anyone entranced by the business side of "Mad Men" will find it a riveting read.
"Sex and the Single Girl" by Helen Gurley Brown
Brown shook the country to its core when her book hit the shelves: It sold more than two million copies in its first three weeks. The 1962 advice book covers everything from "how to be sexy" to a step-by-step guide on having an affair. The book is a wild romp through the sexual politics of the era.
