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Myrna Blyth was the long-time editor of the Ladies' Home Journal but has now turned her back on the world of magazine publishing and written a book called 'Spin Sisters', which also hits out at female television journalists while looking at the relationship between celebrities and the media.

In the book, which is subtitled 'How the women of the media sell unhappiness and liberalism to the women of America', she accuses women's magazine editors of wrecking the lives of their readers by constantly exhorting them to improve themselves.

She also blames magazines for creating a victim culture and says that women's magazines have convinced the most well-educated, rich and healthy audience in history that they are miserable.

The New York Times quoted Blyth saying that she had written 'Spin Sisters' both as a corrective and a penance. "I was a 'Spin Sister'. I used the female fear factor to sell magazines."

The British magazine editor Glenda Bailey, editor of Harper's Bazaar, is described as a "a flame-haired Brit with a broad, almost unintelligible, East Midlands accent". Another Brit, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, is criticised for telling Oprah Winfrey to lose 20 pounds for a shoot, a request with which the television host complied, and for allegedly having her make-up applied professionally every morning.

Other targets to come under Blyth's fire include the television presenters Rosie O'Donnell, whose friendly onscreen personality is described as phoney, and breakfast television host Katie Couric.

Blyth not only accuses the Manhattan-based media of pushing a perfect lifestyle, she also says that they are pushing a liberal political agenda and are out of touch with the average American woman.

"Do we spend our days worrying whether anti-perspirants cause breast cancer or wondering if a long airline ride will cause a fatal blood clot? Or are we just observing today's favourite media technique to paint women's lives to women audiences as a picture of accumulated woes?"

But some of the people attacked in the book are fighting back, accusing Blyth of seeking a career as a conservative television pundit. According to a report in The Observer, Kate White, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan in the US, has described the book as "boring".

"This is someone over 60 who wants to create a big enough stir to get on TV," she has said.

Blyth told the NY Times that she was surprised by the harsh response her book had received.

"I had hoped that women in the industry could respectfully disagree. I think it's important to show women that they are often manipulated by negative messages and one-sided politics."

Blyth was editor of the Ladies' Home Journal for more than 20 years and launched the US magazine More, aimed at women over 40.

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