An Unexpected Life
A Memoir

Quotes

“A luminous act of remembrance and generosity. This is a fiercely beautiful book about how we survive, how we learn, how we keep faith with one another, and how an unexpected life can become a formidable force for freedom and connection.”—Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist

“In revisiting the equal-rights movements Steinem helped build, she offers wisdom to new generations about what the next chapters of the fight for equality will demand.”—Vanity Fair

“[An Unexpected Life] will stand as posthumous testament to the 92-year-old icon. . . . The book’s opening pages unfold with a deep, added poignancy. . . . The book offers us an opportunity to go back over Steinem’s hardscrabble origins in Toledo, Ohio, and the roots of her activism. This is where it all happened, the formation of a women who would come to define second wave feminism. . . . Steinem is the real thing. . . . It’s a pleasure, simply, to spend time in her company.”—The Guardian

“Gloria Steinem deserves to be remembered as a writer too. She may have aspired once to be a woman of letters, to lead a more solitary life dedicated to the written word. But the time and the place she was born into did not have very many spaces like that for women. So again and again, she put aside her own comfort and her own literary aspirations and went out to do what she could to change the world.”—The New York Times

“The late founder of Ms. and queen mother of American second-wave feminism narrates her trajectory from Midwestern rules-follower to politically conscious Smith student to fervent activist who sought to braid communities of women across lines of race, class, and sexual identity, with cameos by Jane Fonda, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Betty Friedan.”—Time

“An Unexpected Life reads, maybe presciently, as a nudge to younger generations to keep up the good fight, to notice the wins where they happen, and to not get discouraged. Things were, she keeps reminding us in this book, much, much worse. . . . A delight to read.”—Slate

“Gloria Steinem’s posthumous memoir leaves us with these life lessons. . . . A sobering read on Steinem’s philosophies and community, particularly because she was still so forward-looking . . . a wide-ranging essay collection, with stories from Steinem’s childhood to meditations on change.”—USA Today

“Gloria Steinem has long been, and will forever be, the light guiding the way for so many of us. Her energy, passion, clarity, and unrelenting optimism have invigorated generations of women to channel our rage into change. Her entire life has been a love letter and a battle cry.”—Jameela Jamil, actor, writer, and advocate

“Both an engrossing self-portrait and a useful political handbook, this is essential reading.”—Publishers Weekly

“Vignettes from a life of activism, writing, speaking, and service, mined for insights and advice . . . Steinem’s second memoir, following My Life on the Road, is a mostly grateful, sometimes rueful accounting of the people and places that have shaped her ninety-two years on earth.”—Kirkus Reviews

“[Steinem] homes in on what’s essential in this spare but powerful reflection. . . . With unabashed generosity, Steinem celebrates those who have shared her unconventional and iconic life as she continues to guide generations to come.”—Booklist