Die Hot With A Vengeance
Now available from Dey Street & Harper Collins
“Journalist and former Allure beauty editor Sable Yong debuts with a sharp-toothed and hilarious essay collection about beauty and vanity, examining their stigmatization in the cultural zeitgeist, and how to shift focus to use both as powerful tools for self-exploration, interpersonal connection, and cultural change.”
Book Reviews
“A vibrant essay collection about beauty, identity, and cultural acceptance. Yong’s take on beauty and fashion is revealing, playful, and heartfelt.”
— Starred Kirkus Review
“Throughout Die Hot With A Vengeance, Yong emphasizes the practicalities of beauty, because in the end beauty is not a moral imperative, not a rulebook, not a winner-takes-all competition. It should be whimsical, personal, and never anchored to just one ideal, much like this book itself.”
"A must-read for anyone who has felt the tension between the beauty industry’s ability to simultaneously exploit and empower, Die Hot with a Vengeance eviscerates the manipulative aspects of Big Beauty without shaming those who love what beauty practices can offer."
— Ling Ling Huang, author of Natural Beauty
“What is beauty? As Yong, a former magazine editor, argues in this wickedly smart essay collection, the very idea is a moving target. Humor, well-deployed here, may well be the best way to counter the oppressive beauty standards we all face.”
“With her debut essay collection, Yong looks to understand why vanity is still such a dirty word in a culture so obsessed with beauty. The former Allure editor offers thought-provoking analysis on social media’s impossible beauty standards, the rise of questionable wellness trends, and whether blondes really do have more fun. Going beyond just sharing her insights from working in the industry, she also weaves in stories of her own complicated relationship with self-image. With humor and candor, Die Hot With a Vengeance shows why beauty should be a tool of self-expression, not self-hate.”
“Yong’s debut collection of essays, Die Hot with a Vengeance, is such a treat because Yong—both in conversation and as a writer—is always down to get deep. Tough topics become tender and human in her hands.”