Throughout the years, Gloria Steinem is perhaps the single-most iconic
figure associated with women's rights, her name practically synonymous
with the word feminism.
Documenting everything from her boundary-pushing journalistic career to
the foundation of Ms. magazine to being awarded the 2013 Presidential
Medal of Freedom, Winifred Conkling's Ms. Gloria Steinem: A Life is a
meticulously researched YA biography that is sure to satisfy even the
most voracious of aspiring glass-ceiling smashers.
Gloria Steinem was no stranger to injustice even from a young age.
Her mother, Ruth, having suffered a nervous breakdown at only 34, spent
much of Gloria's childhood in and out of mental health facilities. And
when Gloria was only 10 years old, her father divorced her mother and
left for California, unable to bear the stress of caring for Ruth any
longer.
Gloria never blamed her mother for being unable to hold down a job to
support them both after that, but rather blamed society's intrinsic
hostility toward women, and working women in particular. This was the
spark that lit a fire in her that would burn for decades, and continues
to burn brightly today.