The latest collection of poetry by award-winning author, Glen Downie, confronts and attempts to decode various commercial artifacts of the twentieth century through the forms of prose poem commentaries and found poems. Democratic Beauties responds to these artifacts from the perspective of our current day, as well as puzzles out what their producers may have intended with them. In so doing, the book touches on a range of issues, including technological change, gender roles, notions of happiness and a society that cannot sustain itself without ever-increasing consumption.