“I recommend Mary Climbs In to Springsteen fans and music enthusiasts without hesitation; it gets you excited about music and the power of its influence. In a world of competing obligations, putting aside enjoyable activities is easy. Mary Climbs In offers readers an indulgent opportunity to embrace what they love without reservation.”— Psychology of Women Quarterly
“Mary Climbs In offers an important entry in rock music scholarship. In addition to providing a contribution to the burgeoning arena of fan studies, Mangione and Luff afford readers a vital window into the female experience vis-à-vis rock ‘n’ roll.”
— Kenneth Womack, author of Solid State: The Story of "Abbey Road" and the End of the Beatles
"In their book Mary Climbs In, Lorraine Mangione and Donna Luff – a professor of psychology and a sociologist, respectively – make the case that Springsteen’s music has deep appeal to women, speaking to them on a number of levels and about different subjects...The overall devotion of Springsteen’s fans is also worth noting...[, and] many of the first-person testimonials from fans in Mary Climbs In speak to the depth of this connection."— Steve Pfarrer, Daily Hampshire Gazette
"[Bruce Springsteen is] seen as one of the quintessential writers of male experience, but as this new book explores, his resonance with female listeners is just as complex."— Herpreet Kaur Grewal, The Guardian
"This project is an important interdisciplinary contribution to what is now a bona fide discourse of Springsteen studies. It takes a uniquely empirical approach to the subject, and illuminates a once overlooked, but now increasingly important and multifaceted conversation about female audiences for Springsteen’s music."
— Jim Cullen, author of Martin Scorsese and the American Dream