Special Collections > Mortimer Rare Book Collection > Online Exhibits > A Story of Their Own > The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem
The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem
Carolyn Heilbrun
New York: Ballantine Books, 1995.
In 1990 Gloria Steinem and Carolyn
Heilbrun discussed writing Steinem’s biography. Steinem particularly
admired Heilbrun’s book Writing A Woman’s Life: “I’ve
always had a deep feeling of being understood when I read what you write.”
Heilbrun—a noted academic, literary critic, and mystery writer—came
to respect Steinem during the course of the project, particularly her
ability to identify with “common” people and her tireless “questioning
of the powerful on behalf of the dispossessed.”
Gloria Steinem. Letter to Carolyn Heilbrun, July 7, 1990.
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In her introduction, Heilbrun says that each generation finds a different truth in a subject's life: "biography is the imposition of the biographer’s perception upon the life of the subject." A feminist herself, Heilbrun's biography focuses on the gradual awakening of Steinem's skeptical self, a person who questioned patriarchal dogma and came to trust her own experiences and those of other women over social myths. This education began in the blue collar neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio, where Steinem grew up. Women were either victims or nice girls, according to Steinem: "Given a choice between being a victim and being a limited fifties nice girl, I chose not to be a victim."
Gloria Steinem Papers
Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
