“Let us dedicate ourselves to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.”

The first time I was publicly attacked for writing Paperdolls was in 1993. The book had been picked up by the national publisher and I was on live radio with Tom Barberi.¹ Usually, my co-author and I did media junkets together. For some reason, this time, I was solo on Tom Barberi’s live radio show.²

A woman called in named, “Helen.”

Helen didn’t have a qu…