Readers are introduced to the four main magazines that are the focus of the book; editors and prominent staff, cover price and design, content and layout are all described. The magazines are then situated in the longer history of domestic women’s magazine publishing in independent Ireland, and they are considered in the context of the social, political and economic environment of the 1960s. In particular, they are explored in relation to the other ‘modernising’ influences that were active at that time. The chapter moves on to set out the methodology that underpins this book, explaining why an all-encompassing, rather than fragmentary, approach to the magazines is preferable. The contribution the book hopes to make to the existing literature is then outlined, followed by a brief overview of the book’s structure. As the first in-depth study that considers Irish magazines in their entirety, the introduction explains that the book not only uncovers the contribution made by women’s magazines, but also demonstrates the value of these publications as a source for making sense of values and attitudes, and for tracking societal shifts.