How to Read Anne Helen Petersen’s Books: Recommended Reading Paths
Unlike novelists who write linear series, culture writer and journalist Anne Helen Petersen publishes standalone cultural histories, social analyses, and investigative non-fiction. Because her books don't follow a continuous fictional plot, you can theoretically start anywhere. However, her works fall into two distinct thematic eras: media/celebrity analysis and the critique of modern work culture. Depending on your interests, we recommend following one of two curated reading paths to get the most out of her writing.
Path 1: The Modern Labor & Burnout Journey (Recommended)
If you want to understand why modern life feels so exhausting, how work took over our identities, and how we can build a healthier relationship with our careers, this is the path for you. These works build directly on each other's research and themes:
- First: The Burnout Generation (2019) – A quick, highly accessible audio introduction. Petersen interviews millennials from diverse backgrounds to ground the concept of systemic exhaustion in everyday experiences.
- Second: Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (2020) – The flagship text. Petersen expands her viral BuzzFeed essay into a fully researched historical and sociological breakdown of millennial burnout. This is the absolute best starting point for her modern work.
- Third: Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home (2021) – Co-authored with Charlie Warzel. This book serves as the logical sequel to Can’t Even, shifting from diagnosing the burnout epidemic to offering concrete solutions through the lens of remote and flexible work.
Path 2: The Celebrity Culture & Pop-History Journey
Before focusing on labor, Petersen’s academic background was rooted in media history and star studies. If you love classic Hollywood, celebrity gossip, and gender studies, follow this timeline:
- First: Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of Hollywood (2014) – A deep dive into the history of the gossip industry, analyzing how classic stars like Marilyn Monroe, Clara Bow, and Montgomery Clift navigated fame and public scrutiny.
- Second: Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman (2017) – A modern counterpart that examines how contemporary female celebrities—ranging from Serena Williams to Melissa McCarthy—push back against societal expectations of how women "should" behave.
Publication Order of Non-Fiction
If you prefer to see how Petersen’s voice developed over time, reading in publication order is a rewarding experience. It highlights her transition from an academic writing about historical media to a cultural commentator addressing systemic economic anxieties. Here is the chronological list of her major book-length works:
- Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of Hollywood (2014) – Petersen’s debut book, adapted and expanded from her popular column on the website The Hairpin.
- Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman (2017) – An influential collection of essays analyzing celebrity, gender, and societal double standards.
- The Burnout Generation (2019) – An Audible Original audiobook production that acts as an oral-history companion to her work on millennial exhaustion.
- Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (2020) – Her bestselling sociological analysis of the historical forces that shaped the modern overworked class.
- Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home (2021) – Co-authored with Charlie Warzel, focusing on remote work policies, flexibility, and boundary-setting.
A Deep Dive Into the Thematic Tracks
The Celebrity and Pop-History Track
Petersen holds a Ph.D. in media studies from the University of Texas at Austin, where she wrote her dissertation on the history of celebrity gossip. That academic rigor shines through in her early work, but she translates it into highly readable, engaging cultural critiques. In Scandals of Classic Hollywood, she moves chronologically through the 20th century to explain how the studio system controlled actors' personal lives and how gossip magazines functioned as enforcement mechanisms for societal norms. In Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, she shifts the lens to the 21st century, showing how modern female celebrities are punished or celebrated for being "unruly." Reading these two books back-to-back provides a comprehensive history of the gendered nature of American fame.
The Burnout and Remote Work Track
In January 2019, Petersen published a landmark BuzzFeed News article titled "How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation," which quickly went viral and became one of the site's most-read pieces. This marked a major shift in her career. Her subsequent projects, The Burnout Generation (audio) and Can't Even (print), build directly on this article. She argues that burnout is not a temporary state of feeling tired; rather, it is a chronic condition caused by stagnant wages, economic instability, the gig economy, and the constant demand to optimize our schedules. In Out of Office, she and Charlie Warzel look forward, examining how the sudden shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic offers a rare opportunity to redesign our work environments, reclaim our personal lives, and resist the urge to turn every waking hour into labor.
Other Writings, Anthologies, and Newsletters
To truly appreciate Petersen’s footprint in modern culture writing, it is worth looking beyond her standard book publications. Her career was launched in part by her contributions to early-2010s digital publications, most notably The Hairpin. She contributed to the travel anthology An Experience Definitely Worth Allegedly Having: Travel Stories from The Hairpin (2013), edited by Edith Zimmerman. This early work showcases her transition from formal academic prose to a more conversational, witty, and personal voice.
Furthermore, her most consistent current output is her newsletter, Culture Study. Launched on Substack in 2020 and later transitioning to Patreon in late 2025, the newsletter has attracted a massive, dedicated following. It acts as a living laboratory for the ideas explored in her books, featuring interviews, reader Q&As, and cultural critiques of parenting, local economies, and domestic labor. If you finish her books and want to keep up with her evolving commentary, subscribing to Culture Study is the logical next step.
What to Know Before You Start
Before diving in, readers should keep a few practical things in mind. First, while The Burnout Generation (2019) and Can't Even (2020) share similar titles and themes, they are different products. The Burnout Generation is a short Audible Original audiobook centered on interviews, while Can't Even is a comprehensive, standalone book that provides a deep dive into the history of labor, education, and social media. You do not need to read both, but if you prefer text and historical context, skip the audio-only release and go straight to the book. Second, her books are highly analytical but written in an accessible, conversational style. They read like long-form magazine features rather than dry textbooks, making them perfect for casual readers and academics alike.