The Best of Barbie: Four Decades of America's Favorite Doll

by Sharon Korbeck

Featuring striking photographs and lively, insightful commentary and histories, The Best of Barbie is a full-color visual feast that novice and experienced collectors alike will treasure.Scattered throughout the book are trivia facts that test the reader's knowledge of America's favorite doll. Plus, accompanying each photo is a handy identification and value info bar - facts readers need at a glance.With complete descriptions, 300 magnificent color photos and more than 1,200 price listings, collectors, appraisers, buyers and fans will have the tools to identify the most influential Barbie Dolls including Barbie #1 Ponytail Style, Bubblecut Barbie, Barbie Fashion Queen, American Girl and many more.

Genres: Nonfiction

255 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2001

Reviews

[clara]

earring ken the diva that you are...

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s time for another Barbie adventure, and this one was a wonderful addition to my recent collection of Barbie books. This book is structured similarly to other books I’ve read in that it moves chronologically through time from Barbie’s release, but it’s different in that it doesn’t strive to be a comprehensive guide. Instead, its goal is to feature important, noteworthy, and/or notorious Barbies and friends from Barbie’s release in 1959 to 2001. This was interesting because it focused on particular releases that had an impact on the industry and society from the author’s point of view at least.

In addition to the structure, all of the photographs are taken from one woman’s rather enviable collection. I enjoyed this as it showed dolls in various conditions, and it also revealed both mint in box (MIB) and mint no box (MNB) values for all dolls, even those not pictured. Of course, these 2001 values are wildly outdated in 2024, but it was still interesting to see the differences among dolls. Prior to purchasing this book, I read reviews from multiple sites, and some reviewers on other sites were not fans of the fact that many of the pictured dolls were not in perfect condition. They didn’t understand how these dolls were the “Best,” and clearly they were missing the point because this book was focused on the dolls that achieved the most for Barbie, not the ones in the best condition.

I really enjoyed reading this book and, of course, seeing all the wonderful pictures. I look forward to my next Barbie adventure!

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun to read through. The pictures are really fun to examine. I learned a few tidbits that I didn’t know. It’s unfortunate that the collection pictured doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I wonder what happened to all of these gals. I find it quite funny that there are a Marie Antoinette, Juliet Capulet, and Redshirt Barbie and what that implies about Barbie’s gruesome demise. I can’t give this 5 stars bc unfortunately the book is outdated as it stops documenting barbie’s after the year 2000.

[Sommer Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fun, great pictures that oozed with nostalgia, and interesting behind the scenes of barbie throughout the text. I myself loved Barbie growing up, but am not a huge collector which this booked seems to be geared towards, none the less I still enjoyed the picture perfect road down Barbie history. A must for anyone whose heart would skip a beat when seeing that perfect hue of pink box.

[Marlena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. Good overview of Barbie through the year. Would be a great resource for collectors.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good book for collectors. I only saw one doll in there that I owned. It has good resources as well.