The impetuous Leda Sanford abandoned secure suburbia in the 1960s in exchange for a life on the edge as a top magazine editor and publisher in the competitive and male-dominated Manhattan publishing world. Unorthodox entrepreneurs hired Leda at a time when women rarely occupied corner offices. Leda's memoir, "Pure Moxie, " recreates a world of jet-setting opulence-private planes, five-star hotels, and a state dinner at the White House-plus a headline-making affair. Leda became the first female publisher of "American Home, " a major U.S. magazine with a circulation of more than one million....

The impetuous Leda Sanford abandoned secure suburbia in the 1960s in exchange for a life on the edge as a top magazine editor and publisher in the competitive and male-dominated Manhattan publishing world. Unorthodox entrepreneurs hired Leda at a time when women rarely occupied corner offices. Leda's memoir, "Pure Moxie, " recreates a world of jet-setting opulence-private planes, five-star hotels, and a state dinner at the White House-plus a headline-making affair. Leda became the first female publisher of "American Home, " a major U.S. magazine with a circulation of more than one million....