Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere: How to Break the Rules and Get What You Want from Your Job, Your Family, and Your Relationship

Despite the racy title, this exceptionally insightful how-to by a German psychotherapist is a tough-talking, get-smart guide informed by psychological and sociological research. The ""bad girls"" of the title are rebellious achievers, assertive women who break free of the chain of self-renunciation typical of their docile sisters, and who get what they want--on the job or in personal relationships--by making firm demands, displaying individuality and not trying to please at any price. The ""good girls"" are the majority of women, conditioned to believe that by being nice, self-sacrificing and unobtrusive they'll keep a man or a job. For the most part, Ehrhardt avoids jargon and simplistic formulas (though we do get the ""Mona Lisa syndrome"" and ""the victim trap"") as she advises women how to achieve equality and exercise power wisely in a man's world. (Mar.)