Madeleine Albright Book Signing & Discussion October 7, 2009

The story and celebration of how one woman’s jewelry collection was used to make diplomatic history. A unique celebration of the pin or brooch as a means of personal and diplomatic expression, seen through the extraordinary life and career of one of the world’s most admired women. Read My Pins features a gallery of fascinating photographs, showing both the Albright collection and Secretary Albright wearing the pins at history-making events; the images of more than 200 pins, some elegant, many playful, are included. To be published in conjunction with an exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York. Madeleine Albright was the first female Secretary of State of the United States and, at that time, the highest-ranking woman in U.S. history. Like most women, she had occasionally worn pins before entering public service, but it was when she took office as America’s Ambassador to the United Nations, and then as Secretary of State, that she came to understand how powerful a symbol a simple piece of jewelry could be. When she wore a snake pin after Saddam Husssein’s press called her a serpent, and then a pin of a doomed bird after Cuban-American pilots were shot down in international waters, the world’s press took notice, showing that while the pin is an expression of femininity and fashion, it can also be a badge of individuality, a vibrant and witty vehicle for telling a story, and can be a diplomatic tool for delivering messages to world leaders, politicians, the public, and beyond.

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