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The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem
From one of America's most respected critics comes an acclaimed biography of the controversial feminist. Here, Heilbrun illuminates the life and explores the many facets of Steinem's complex life, from her difficult childhood to the awakening that changed her into the most famous feminist in the world. Intimate and insightful, here is a biography that is as provocative as the woman who inspired it. Photos.
480 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1995
17 people are currently reading
282 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn G. Heilbrun
53 books41 followersCarolyn Gold Heilbrun (January 13, 1926 – October 9, 2003) was an American academic and prolific feminist author of both important academic studies and popular mystery novels under the pen name of Amanda Cross.
Heilbrun attended graduate school in English literature at Columbia University, receiving her M.A. in 1951 and Ph.D in 1959. Among her most important mentors were Columbia professors Jacques Barzun and Lionel Trilling, while Clifton Fadiman was an important inspiration: She wrote about these three in her final non-fiction work, When Men Were the Only Models We Had: My Teachers Barzun, Fadiman, Trilling (2002).
Heilbrun taught English at Columbia for more than three decades, from 1960 to 1992. She was the first woman to receive tenure in the English Department. Her academic specialty was British modern literature, with a particular interest in the Bloomsbury Group. Her academic books include the feminist study Writing a Woman's Life (1988). In 1983, she co-founded and became co-editor of the Columbia University Press's Gender and Culture Series with literary scholar Nancy K. Miller. From 1985 until her retirement in 1992, she was Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia.
(from Wikipedia)
Heilbrun attended graduate school in English literature at Columbia University, receiving her M.A. in 1951 and Ph.D in 1959. Among her most important mentors were Columbia professors Jacques Barzun and Lionel Trilling, while Clifton Fadiman was an important inspiration: She wrote about these three in her final non-fiction work, When Men Were the Only Models We Had: My Teachers Barzun, Fadiman, Trilling (2002).
Heilbrun taught English at Columbia for more than three decades, from 1960 to 1992. She was the first woman to receive tenure in the English Department. Her academic specialty was British modern literature, with a particular interest in the Bloomsbury Group. Her academic books include the feminist study Writing a Woman's Life (1988). In 1983, she co-founded and became co-editor of the Columbia University Press's Gender and Culture Series with literary scholar Nancy K. Miller. From 1985 until her retirement in 1992, she was Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 23, 2017
A decent if a bit rapturous biography of an enduringly important leader and social symbol. It's hard to disentangle what Gloria Steinem accomplished from who she was, how she embodied and represented feminism (or failed to represent feminism, because it's nuts to think any one person could), and how people reacted to her.
Heilbrun is obviously an admirer and does a good job of painting the dilemma of leadership within progressive circles- you are condemned for going too far and not far enough, you can never perfectly align the idiosyncrasies of your human life and failings with the demands of uncompromising ideology, and often the very idea of leadership is rejected as oppressive even when it is most needed to accomplish progressive goals. Call it 'trashing' as Heilbrun's subjects do or call-out culture, but progressive politics eats its own. What a mess.
That said, Heilbrun was reactive in how she constructed her subject, focusing inordinate amounts of time on Steinem's conventional looks and thinness, the lust she inspired in men (and women), and the details of her love affairs. In trying to portray critics (often rightly) as jealous, malicious, or sexist, she nevertheless lets these critics set the agenda. I would have appreciated more time on Steinem's leadership style, her relationships with fellow activists and staff at Ms, and more on her racial politics than 'she had lots of black friends.'
I'm a millennial and so Steinem the cultural icon has been handed down to me for better and for worse as representative of a second wave feminism that had been overtaken by an 80s backlash and then problematized by the rise of intersectional feminism. The book was published in 1995, definitely prematurely in terms of what Steinem meant and continues to mean as a symbol of a certain kind of feminist politics.
And indeed, my one significant adult exposure to her was watching her debate then-Melissa Harris-Lacewell in 2008 in advance of the Democratic primaries. I remember her coming off rather poorly, trotting out the same tired narrative of old-school white feminism- that black men always get to go first and it's not fair. (This is a gross simplification of the exchange, but is the impression rather that lingers in my mind until today.) Harris, in her defense of a younger and less rigid coalition of multiracial progressives, was infinitely more compelling.
The younger Steinem captured by Heilbrun is much more vibrant than that exchange would have led me to imagine; Steinem is portrayed as championing a range of progressive causes and working well in tandem with women of color as well as lesbian activists before LGBT rights became mainstream for the left. Heilbrun's only acknowledgment of this tension is a throw-away comment that Steinem's personality led her to cling to simple narratives about sexism aimed to the unconverted to the detriment of her own intellectual growth and evolution. That's a fascinating chapter right there, but it's nowhere else taken up by the author.
That said, it was a good reminder to sit and think of the life I would never be living now, a white single female middle class professional, had not many women fought the hard fights within my mother's lifetime to make my current choices seem normal. In that respect I am deeply grateful to this book.
Heilbrun is obviously an admirer and does a good job of painting the dilemma of leadership within progressive circles- you are condemned for going too far and not far enough, you can never perfectly align the idiosyncrasies of your human life and failings with the demands of uncompromising ideology, and often the very idea of leadership is rejected as oppressive even when it is most needed to accomplish progressive goals. Call it 'trashing' as Heilbrun's subjects do or call-out culture, but progressive politics eats its own. What a mess.
That said, Heilbrun was reactive in how she constructed her subject, focusing inordinate amounts of time on Steinem's conventional looks and thinness, the lust she inspired in men (and women), and the details of her love affairs. In trying to portray critics (often rightly) as jealous, malicious, or sexist, she nevertheless lets these critics set the agenda. I would have appreciated more time on Steinem's leadership style, her relationships with fellow activists and staff at Ms, and more on her racial politics than 'she had lots of black friends.'
I'm a millennial and so Steinem the cultural icon has been handed down to me for better and for worse as representative of a second wave feminism that had been overtaken by an 80s backlash and then problematized by the rise of intersectional feminism. The book was published in 1995, definitely prematurely in terms of what Steinem meant and continues to mean as a symbol of a certain kind of feminist politics.
And indeed, my one significant adult exposure to her was watching her debate then-Melissa Harris-Lacewell in 2008 in advance of the Democratic primaries. I remember her coming off rather poorly, trotting out the same tired narrative of old-school white feminism- that black men always get to go first and it's not fair. (This is a gross simplification of the exchange, but is the impression rather that lingers in my mind until today.) Harris, in her defense of a younger and less rigid coalition of multiracial progressives, was infinitely more compelling.
The younger Steinem captured by Heilbrun is much more vibrant than that exchange would have led me to imagine; Steinem is portrayed as championing a range of progressive causes and working well in tandem with women of color as well as lesbian activists before LGBT rights became mainstream for the left. Heilbrun's only acknowledgment of this tension is a throw-away comment that Steinem's personality led her to cling to simple narratives about sexism aimed to the unconverted to the detriment of her own intellectual growth and evolution. That's a fascinating chapter right there, but it's nowhere else taken up by the author.
That said, it was a good reminder to sit and think of the life I would never be living now, a white single female middle class professional, had not many women fought the hard fights within my mother's lifetime to make my current choices seem normal. In that respect I am deeply grateful to this book.
June 25, 2024
okay i did not finish this book but i was too close to the end to not count it as read...
anyway, this was a good read overall!! i learned some very insightful info on not only the feminist and women's movements of the time but also on gloria steinem and her revelations with feminism, which actually paralleled my own revelations!! only thing is, this book was given to me by my professor and i was expected to return it to him, and coupled with the fact that this was the first biography i've read, this book proved to be veryyy challenging to get thru. everything was tied together quite neatly, and it was easy to follow thru steinem's life; however, near the end it was more of a chore to read than anything. this may be due to the feeling of being on a time crunch or bc of the lack of content on steinem's activism (she felt very distant during a lot of the book, despite it being a book...abt her...) or maybe even my lack of experience with reading more nonfiction books or even the lack of ig "pretty" words and structure to keep me engaged, or all of the above! whatever it was, after a certain pt, i felt as tho i could simply get the same knowledge i was learning abt her and what she was involved in by reading articles and researching her a little more. it was good in the beginning, especially with the insights on steinem's potential feelings and thoughts, but it left me feeling frustrated and unsatisfied in the end.
anyway, this was a good read overall!! i learned some very insightful info on not only the feminist and women's movements of the time but also on gloria steinem and her revelations with feminism, which actually paralleled my own revelations!! only thing is, this book was given to me by my professor and i was expected to return it to him, and coupled with the fact that this was the first biography i've read, this book proved to be veryyy challenging to get thru. everything was tied together quite neatly, and it was easy to follow thru steinem's life; however, near the end it was more of a chore to read than anything. this may be due to the feeling of being on a time crunch or bc of the lack of content on steinem's activism (she felt very distant during a lot of the book, despite it being a book...abt her...) or maybe even my lack of experience with reading more nonfiction books or even the lack of ig "pretty" words and structure to keep me engaged, or all of the above! whatever it was, after a certain pt, i felt as tho i could simply get the same knowledge i was learning abt her and what she was involved in by reading articles and researching her a little more. it was good in the beginning, especially with the insights on steinem's potential feelings and thoughts, but it left me feeling frustrated and unsatisfied in the end.
March 13, 2021
Outstanding, thorough biography. From Carolyn Heilbrun, whose own book, "Writing a Woman's Life" is the definitive academic work on historical limitations on women's life stories, most often curtailed and twisted to fit bigoted social narratives against inherent female power and agency. Heilbrun gives a rich and full story showing how the parents and childhood cirumstances of Steinem lead her to become one of the country's greatest civil rights leaders.
March 1, 2010
Ugh, how could a book about such an interesting person be so slow and boring? And it was really annoying how the author kept telling us over and over how beautiful she was but how that was both a blessing and a curse. she said something about this several times in - it seemed like - ever chapter.
November 19, 2023
An interesting portrait of a pioneering woman whose ideas are relevant even in this day and age. However also very dry and difficult to get through. The book stays completely away from crafting a story, and instead seems more a summary with some commentary here and there. It felt like reading an extremely elaborate Wikipedia page. Would not really recommend this book.
July 8, 2020
Good biography. Dry at times.
I liked the book. It was well researched, but a bit dry for my liking. I prefer bios with a bit more explanation of the subject's motives and thought process.
I liked the book. It was well researched, but a bit dry for my liking. I prefer bios with a bit more explanation of the subject's motives and thought process.
June 8, 2022
Book club selection
One of my greatest idols
One of my greatest idols
March 27, 2022
A thorough, sympathetic biography that ends in 1994, and so doesn’t cover nearly 30 years.
I certainly learned a lot about Steinem. She is one of those people who is energized by contact with others. I am a natural introspect — just the opposite. I was enervated just reading about Steinem’s killer travel schedule — she was on an airplane to somewhere every single week for years. She would engage with an audience after a speech, listening for hours, long after her companions had gone to bed. Then she would sleep in the plane the next morning. It sounds as if, for years, she was living on coffee, adrenaline, and naps grabbed whenever she allowed herself a quiet moment.
Steinem and I are about as different as two people can be. But — I discerned this from a few of the photos — we both love cats. If given a fact to face moment with Steinem, I might gently remonstrate with her for leaving her cat so often.
Steinem is a fantastic prose stylist. Her biographer— isn’t. Her sentences are often too long and sometimes poorly constructed. It’s work to figure out just what she is saying.
The author also remarks FREQUENTLY about Steinem’s looks. She quotes, at some length, a Wall
Street Journal reporter who describes Steinem’s long legs and “flat abdomen.” You start to wonder if the biographer is not jealous of her subject.
Finally, although this is a biography, I expected a deeper and more cogent presentation of Steinem’s beliefs.
One last point: the author frequently remarks on Steinem’s “calmness.” It may be true that Steinem is preternaturally calm. But the author has lived most of her life in New York City — ground zero for high- strung, confrontational personalities. What she describes as Steinem’s “calmness” could well be that typically Midwestern even-temperedness, that Midwestern courtesy. Midwesterners aren’t confrontational, they don’t raise their voices over minor inconveniences. It’s behavior I noticed when I lived in Grinnell, Iowa. I suspect the author has confused this regional trait with personality.
I certainly learned a lot about Steinem. She is one of those people who is energized by contact with others. I am a natural introspect — just the opposite. I was enervated just reading about Steinem’s killer travel schedule — she was on an airplane to somewhere every single week for years. She would engage with an audience after a speech, listening for hours, long after her companions had gone to bed. Then she would sleep in the plane the next morning. It sounds as if, for years, she was living on coffee, adrenaline, and naps grabbed whenever she allowed herself a quiet moment.
Steinem and I are about as different as two people can be. But — I discerned this from a few of the photos — we both love cats. If given a fact to face moment with Steinem, I might gently remonstrate with her for leaving her cat so often.
Steinem is a fantastic prose stylist. Her biographer— isn’t. Her sentences are often too long and sometimes poorly constructed. It’s work to figure out just what she is saying.
The author also remarks FREQUENTLY about Steinem’s looks. She quotes, at some length, a Wall
Street Journal reporter who describes Steinem’s long legs and “flat abdomen.” You start to wonder if the biographer is not jealous of her subject.
Finally, although this is a biography, I expected a deeper and more cogent presentation of Steinem’s beliefs.
One last point: the author frequently remarks on Steinem’s “calmness.” It may be true that Steinem is preternaturally calm. But the author has lived most of her life in New York City — ground zero for high- strung, confrontational personalities. What she describes as Steinem’s “calmness” could well be that typically Midwestern even-temperedness, that Midwestern courtesy. Midwesterners aren’t confrontational, they don’t raise their voices over minor inconveniences. It’s behavior I noticed when I lived in Grinnell, Iowa. I suspect the author has confused this regional trait with personality.
August 15, 2007
I really adore Heilbrun's writing about women's biographies (see "Writing a Woman's Life") but her actual work in writing a biography was terrifically lacking. Although this book gives one a good sense of Steinem's personal life, most of her activist life is left out. That seems to me to defeat the purpose of reading an activist's biography.
January 7, 2016
Each year, I like to spend time reading about a heroine of mine. I wasn't thrilled with this biography-- I found it too riddled with the author's adoration of Gloria. I wish it was more impartial and contained more dialogue from Steinem herself. Either way, I admire Gloria Steinem and her life's trajectory and was glad to know a bit more about her upbringing and formative years.
July 19, 2011
I couldn't get through this. It was boring..
March 7, 2012
I stopped.
Read
June 15, 2016Interesting but should be regarded as a psychoanalysis of Steinem and the feminist movement rather than a biography of Steinem.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews