My Life on the Road

Gloria Steinem writes about different kinds of travel with her usual gentle humor and carefully crafted chapters. She introduces the reader to friends she has made along the way, showing her love and admiration for them. But most importantly, like any successful organizer she teaches through memorable stories of her family and of many others from whom she has learned the importance of balance in life.

A wonderful primer on the feminist movement in the US. There's a fair amount of previously published material so sometimes it feels a little cobbled together. As a memoir it's a highly curated view, which I suppose is to be expected - but found myself wanting a little more about her personal life. That said I was very glad I read it, and am a huge fan of her work and mission.

Even though you thought you knew her place in popular culture,there's much more here to discover about Ms. Steinem. Her evolution, connections, involvement, and commitment influence events and practices that touch all our lives.This volume is a backstory treasure chest for readers of any gender and generation

Wonderful reflections of a life well lived, from a slightly different perspective, her life as an "itinerant organizer". Once again, her beautiful, smart writing has made me think and re-think--about everything. Gloria has always been my (our) hero. "Thank you" doesn't begin to say enough.

My husband interviewed Gloria Steinem for one of her first TV interviews in the 60s and all the camera men couldn't take their eyes off her. Which tells you how much they were listening to her words. Well, they've been listening for a long time now and are hearing her really well. Her new book is a joy to read and because I'm the same age have followed her exemplary career. I'm proud to say that my daughter interviewed her recently and never said a word about her appearance, only her words. Thank you Gloria for sharing this wonderful journey you've been on. Happy travels.

Such a fabulous book! I laughed, I cried, I learned so much about women, our history, the history of the women's movement, racism, privilege, and how to be a creative soul who works for justice in the world. Such an inspiring life!

I read this book in January for Emma Watson's book club "Our Shared Shelf." I rented it from the library but I loved it so much that I had to buy a copy for myself. This book is in wonderful condition and was packaged well in my box full of other books.

Book review:
I first went into reading this book thinking that feminism was all about women and men equality. That women wanted to be treated fairly in the world instead of just staying at home cooking, cleaning and being expected to get pregnant. We can contribute in society by working and making our own money to provide for ourselves or help our partner by providing financial assistance.

I loved how she wrote and discussed topics that we are still struggling to talk about today. She discusses racism, politics, segregation, rape, domestic violence, emotional abuse, alcoholism, abortion, sex and political figures. She has met many people and isn't afraid to discuss their feminism views while also expressing her own. I also enjoyed how she told us her life stories about her father, why she doesn't have a car, working with Native American activists and her trips around the world.

I did find this book a bit dull in some areas but I did enjoy it for the most part. I learned more than I had before, it has made me a better person in understanding feminism. People at times may be nervous to say that they're a feminist or say they're not that big of an activist to call themselves one. In this book, she teaches us how to embrace it and not to be so worried about how we define ourselves.

You may also read my review here. [...]

An interesting life well lived and well told. Some parts read better than others (or maybe I was just more familiar with some parts than others), but overall well written and definitely worth reading.

I read this book in January for Emma Watson's book club "Our Shared Shelf." I rented it from the library but I loved it so much that I had to buy a copy for myself. This book is in wonderful condition and was packaged well in my box full of other books.

Book review:
I first went into reading this book thinking that feminism was all about women and men equality. That women wanted to be treated fairly in the world instead of just staying at home cooking, cleaning and being expected to get pregnant. We can contribute in society by working and making our own money to provide for ourselves or help our partner by providing financial assistance.

I loved how she wrote and discussed topics that we are still struggling to talk about today. She discusses racism, politics, segregation, rape, domestic violence, emotional abuse, alcoholism, abortion, sex and political figures. She has met many people and isn't afraid to discuss their feminism views while also expressing her own. I also enjoyed how she told us her life stories about her father, why she doesn't have a car, working with Native American activists and her trips around the world.

I did find this book a bit dull in some areas but I did enjoy it for the most part. I learned more than I had before, it has made me a better person in understanding feminism. People at times may be nervous to say that they're a feminist or say they're not that big of an activist to call themselves one. In this book, she teaches us how to embrace it and not to be so worried about how we define ourselves.

You may also read my review here. [...]

An interesting life well lived and well told. Some parts read better than others (or maybe I was just more familiar with some parts than others), but overall well written and definitely worth reading.

This is a well written book that shares stories and experiences that have taken places in the last 80 or so years regarding Gloria's life and her quest for women's rights. I have been inspired by her stories and the stories of other women as they have worked so hard to make this a better home for all people to live in. Thank you for your hard work and for your courage throughout all the years.. I have been touched in my soul and feel the calling to encourage other women to be strong and courageous!

I found this book to be a wonderful collection powerful stories from Steinem's life. Tales of her demise life are woven throughout the book of course, but so are powerful stories of creatives, strangers, and particularly Native Americans. I was awed by Steinem's memory of people she recalled meeting in cabs and the thoughtful and detailed way she seemed to remember everyone. The book also shares little known (read: barely taught) American history including women councils and the impact of Native American life, land, work, and government on the whole of America. I highly recommend this book and am sure I will refer to back to it again and again.

In My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem, an iconic figure of American culture, tells the story of her life spent "listening to people, learning and creating change." The book is more a memoir than an autobiography. It brims with anecdotes and encounters with people ranging from the poor and disenfranchised to the rich and powerful. She tells what she learned from each encounter and experience. Her life as an organizer, feminist, political campaigner and journalist inspires, enriches and enlightens the reader about the way we think about racial and gender equality.
Although I've heard and read about Steinem since the 1960s, I knew little about her until reading this memoir. Her tenure began with Adlai Stevenson's presedential campaign, continued thorugh the Vietnam War era and the fight to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and has lasted clear up to Obama's election and the present day. Wow! I was awed not only by her longevity but also by her wit, understanding, compassion, and intelligence. Although the book is somewhat haphazard in its organization, it brims with the wisdom of someone who tried to do right by the world by understanding it and the people who inhabit it. Gloria has strived her whole life to bring people together to accomplish justice and equality for all. She felt that "each person's shared humanity and individual uniqueness far out weigh any label by group of birth, whether sex, race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, relgious heritage or anything else." A book like this that forces you to think and examine your own life and accomplishments deserves nothing less than a five. Thank you Gloria Steinem for sharing your quest.

Very uneven. Some gems, but then again, some very silly stuff, e.g. a claim about the name Native Americans called the continent thousands of years ago. What evidence could there be about how they named the continent, or if they even knew there was one? I read it for the autobiographical information, which I found interesting, but there was a lot of stuff to wade through to get to it.

Sorry...found this book incredibly disappointing. Writing was choppy and dull. A few interesting vignettes interspersed with slow-moving thought. Could barely make it through the first few chapters.

Twenty years ago I read one of Gloria Steinem's earlier books, "Outrageous Acts" and immediately connected with her. Her name has often been used in a derogatory way. Male co-workers would call me "Gloria" so naturally I had to know more about this woman I was associated with. Just like in her "Outrageous Acts" book, Gloria makes many truthful observations. And just like "Outrageous Acts," she does not get bitter or violent in her verbiage. I never took being called "Gloria!" as an insult.

This book is a little bit of everything: part memoir, part philosophy of feminism, part tribute to the friends and mentors she has lost along the way, part history of the Feminist Movement. Here she focuses on the things that have influenced her: her father, her early years in India, becoming close to women in the Civil Rights era, other feminists in the movement of the 1970s, the Vietnam War and its protesters, the opening of biracial relationships. In many ways she is also describing the change in American society during her own formative and young adult years. And she got caught up in it all and became a reluctant speaker for a cause she believes in to this day: equal pay and equal treatment for all women, and easy access to birth control to all women regardless of class.

I fear the youngest generation of women don't care much for feminism, but perhaps it's because our ethnic groups of Chinese and Mexicans are joining the ranks and bringing with them a very ingrained patriarchal society. This book is not just addressed to them, however, but to women and men everywhere.

Her narrative style hasn't changed much since her early book. She writes with deep reflection and sensitivity. Even men who have done great wrongs are not described as misogynistic pigs, but rather as victims of their own masculinity. She has never been about "hating men" (there are other much more radical feminists who fit that description) but all about equality for women. Why is that so difficult to achieve, especially when equality for women also means more freedoms for men.

Gloria is now 80 years old and still so full of vigor and energy. She has lived a life of few regrets. This book is aimed at all people who want to see equality among the genders. Men should pick this book up and read it, too. It may just open the mind a bit more.

I was extremely impressed with this book. Not only is she a powerful speaker, but an extraordinarily talented writer, insightful person and focused leader. I came away thinking that while many know her name and reputation, Gloria Steinem has yet to get her due.

As a psychologist I have to say that I have seen few people, read few memoirs or autobiographies which show such a great depth of understanding of where they came from and the forces that motivate them. In my Life on the Road, Gloria takes us from her early childhood, the very humblest of beginnings to her rise as a leader, organizer, speaker, writer, publisher, spokesperson, first and foremost, traveler. She recounts detailed recollections of her journeys far and wide, the people and incidents which shaped her thinking, and the seemingly random moments and movements which swept her up. The book is raw and personal, recounting her journey in a modest and (surprisingly) quiet voice. She emerges as a shining example of what one person can accomplish, irrespective of where they came from. Seemingly the only constants in her life were the road and an openness to others, a willingness, hunger even, to listen to the people around her and let herself be moved by them.

When I picked up the book, I thought I knew Gloria, having grown up with her in a sense. I remember someone visiting our classroom when i was very young and talking about how few women there were in the sciences. At the end of that talk I was determined to get a PhD and it became an almost singular goal. I was in the audience when she gave the keynote address at the APA convention some (20 odd) years back and left at once energized and reflective. I remember her as a powerful, focused and effective speaker. It was funny to see her say that writers and dancers do not speak; that they have chosen paths in which they do not need to, and she had been both. There is no question but that she found her voice and continues to use it to better the world and the lot of those around her, even though she says (more than once) that she had not chosen the path of caretaker, had determined not to devote her life to helping others,.. She did, she does. She continues to lead by example, her voice clear and true.

I thought I knew Gloria, but this book gave me a very different understanding. It is a very well written and quietly powerful book.

In an age where we often pay attention to the loudest, most extreme viewpoints and their angry, overt appeals to our most base nature, it was refreshing to read a book that was earnest and un-cynical - while being honest about the flaws in the system.

This is called a book of essays, but I felt it was a coherent whole. There are some thematic chapters, but it all fit together. Gloria Steinem's voice is even and controlled, and you can see the reason she has succeeded over the years. It is disappointing that her straightforward, reasonable manner is not appreciated in more recent times.

Her stories of 1970s era sexism are comical today, though not far from that time. It was such a ridiculous time - for men (as in, the men of the '70s LOOK ridiculous, now that we have present-day perspective). Luckily, women like Steinem kept up the fight.

Steinem talks about her life, travelling around to seminars, conferences, etc. A funny chapter deals with her conversations with taxi chapters - and they are not all positive! But she holds her own.

Just an interesting book. It's an icon's story of the events around her, but as another review noted it's not so much about her - this is certainly not a confessional (except for the dedication). Anyone interested in recent social history, women's rights, or speaking truth to anyone who will listen, will like this book.

My whole perception of Gloria Steinem and in particular the women's movement has been enlightened.

While most female reviewers are aware of times past when women were not treated as equally as they are today (and with still a road to travel), I don't believe they (including myself) did not know of the challenges met and overcome.

Not just women, minority, sexually diverse, ethnically distributed etc. have been part and parcel of Gloria's travels (never to physically drive herself) throughout the country and the world.

Attributing much of her wanderlust to her father (who obiviously walked to the beat of a different drummer), and mother (who never realized or gave credence to her own aspirations) Gloria proves herself to be intelligent and thoughtful and discovers her own personage.

So many true characters are revealed for example: Bella Abzug...so often maligned and made fun of....a great advocate for rights.

Gloria espouses that there is always more than one way of viewing any issue, and it seems she has worked diligently to listen and hear, no matter who presents and who the audience is.

She hits home a number of times. I am so pleased to have met and learned more about Gloria.

Home and wanderlust...yes, they can co-exist.

My Life on the Road is dot-point memoir of American writer, founder and editor of Ms. magazine, and feminist activist Gloria Steinem.

Steinem commences with her father – her main influencer, for the things he said and did, but mainly for his itinerant lifestyle. And that is the premise of the memoir – she states that for people to be led out of denial and into reality they should travel. She attributes travel as the reason for her energy, optimism, understanding, listening skills, social activism, and advocacy of racial and gender equality. And she encourages everyone to do the same – to go beyond one’s comfort zone to actively seek the road less travelled.

The memoir is divided into seven chapters (and main themes): her father; community development (and the importance of listening); why she doesn’t drive; university campus activities and activism; the personal in political; surrealism; and finally – what once was can be again.

Steinem’s personal history resonates with me, as does her many anecdotes – but I felt that this was not her best work. Her thoughts are disorganised and randomly selected – not chronologically but thematically – which means that she tends to meander, punctuating her chapters with dot points.

Her first two chapters set the scene and are more organized, and the rest taper off. For me, reading her book was like a lucky dip – a few pages of succinctness amongst the chaotic disconnected rememberences. Less rush, less about taxis, and more of her well-defined, well journalled experiences would have increased my interest in her memoir.

My Life On The Road, Gloria Steinem author; narrator Debra Winger
This is not a book I would have chosen to read. I am not an ultra progressive. However, I have always considered myself to be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. The author is nothing short of an extremist on the side of the progressives. She has written a book which is interesting about the places she visited and the people she met. Her family history is touching. Her father never liked domestic life and preferred the open road. He was known as a kind man, if not a man who was well groomed. Her mother would have liked a life in an urban setting as a journalist but seemed to sacrifice her own dreams for her family. She was emotionally challenged and could not live alone after being hospitalized with a breakdown. They rarely had a normal home or home life. Gloria’s life was challenging, but she harbors no ill will toward her family. She seems to love them and respect their different views on life.
However, the book is so left-leaning and biased that I had a hard time finishing it, and truthfully, if I had not already paid a handsome sum to hear her speak at an author breakfast in the spring, I would have walked away from it. I found many of the comments about people on the right not only unfair, but insulting. Gloria does not seem to approve of any views other than her own, and at times her words seemed hypocritical, like this obvious example when she stated that George W. Bush would not have been President without his family while mentioning nothing about Hillary Clinton hanging onto her husband’s coattails.
On the other hand, she paints a broad picture of her life of giving and fund-raising for many worthy causes like women’s rights, civil rights, and American Indian rights. She also speaks of her knowledge and relationship with Shirley Chisholm, Maxine Waters, Ho Chi Minh, Hugo Chavez and George Soros. There were times reading the book that I thought that she could rival Jane Fonda in her beliefs about several issues and in her stand on them. I will not mention them because a reader of her book should read it without anyone else’s positive or negative influence. We all come from different places and will have different emotional reactions to her past and present actions. There were times when I wondered about her remarks about America and religion, but others may not find them disturbing.
She never balked at venturing into unknown territory. She did work tirelessly for women’s issues and that effort bled into many other issues that needed reform and/or support. She covered many topics from The Hmong to effigy mounds. She campaigned for Lyndon Johnson and supported Hillary Clinton, among many other prominent liberals. She lived in an ashram, mixed with truck drivers, engaged with cab drivers and always, throughout her life attempted to find out their needs, their thoughts and their dreams. Then, if she identified with their plight, she worked hard to help further their cause, publicizing and fundraising to raise awareness. She made many friends and traveled far and wide. She espoused following your dreams so long as your dreams did not oppose her beliefs.
The book was a simple read. It was narrated by a left-“winger” of like mind and it was obvious in her presentation. Had the book not been filled with comments about those who disagreed with her obvious political positions, I might have actually liked it because of the unusual bits and pieces of information that were previously unknown to me. She should have written it for a broader audience. To me, it was nothing more than a free advertisement, promotion, or commercial for the left wing of the United States. I do not like to be hijacked into reading things that are not what I expect, and this was not what I expected. I felt that it was not about her life on the road as much as it was about having a platform to rail against those who disagreed with her so she could support the causes she favored. Her travels were interesting, her personal observations about people were insightful, but her remarks about her opposition were offensive to me. Some of the well-known people she insulted and denigrated were people for whom I have great respect. In America, we are supposed to have the ability to voice our opinions equally, and yet, it seems more and more that progressives only want to hear the sound of their own voices echoing back at them and to silence others. I thought she was a cheering squad for herself and those she appreciated, and that she placed a halo on all of their heads, including her own, while painting horns on the heads of those who opposed her.

You've gotta read this story.

From her earliest years, Steinem traveled, first with vagabond parents and later on her own. As a journalist she traveled the world and immersed herself in cultures not seen by the tourist. Her activism found its focus soon after the civil rights movement. Women were being excluded, and it dawned on her that she, herself, had to struggle to be noticed and taken seriously in her efforts to speak for others. And as she continued, her voice became heard, by dissenters and supporters. She's known for her work for women's rights, but her activism found many wrongs that needed to be addressed, from farm workers, to human trafficking, to Native American lack of opportunity, to prison abuses... The causes she championed and still champions are monumental in scope. In her work as a journalist, she discovered many truths that we are not taught in school. She helped to improve many lives and worked with other remarkable champions. Many of us can identify with her causes--those of us who have felt the cutting pain of exclusion.

Steinem's story is one of discovery and humanity. She found that if you want to understand a situation, start at the bottom and listen to the "little fellow."

Politics sometimes chooses the wrong path and carries us on a journey that takes many generations to correct.

This book is a fascinating revelation of Steinem's adventures and lessons. It becomes our lesson book, to be returned to repeatedly. Read it. You won't want to put it down.

Gloria Steinem’s MY LIFE ON THE ROAD traces her life’s journey and, with it, a timeline of the Women’s Rights Movement in America. A frontrunner of the movement, Steinem’s peripatetic life lends itself beautifully to a memoir interwoven with the emerging revelations of intersectional feminism.

Steinem begins with a poetically rendered recounting of her early days. Her father brought the family on treks that lasted longer than any time within a stable home, searching for adventure and trading for a living, and there began her familiarity with the road. Steinem reveals that her father’s roving, uncertain lifestyle may have held magic for him --- and eventually, for her, in the poignancy she discovers in sharing a liminal space with others --- but it took a heavy toll on her mother. So began Steinem’s understanding of the patriarchy, one of the earliest examples of the ways in which genders experience the world and its opportunities differently. Steinem yearned at times for the stability and certainty that her father seemed to find suffocating, yet she was appalled to find the oppressions that systemically keep women off the road.

Steinem’s memoir and her life address the fundamental misogyny writ into our Western mythology and society. As an example, she cites Odysseus vs. Penelope. It’s everywhere. Man: protagonist, adventurer, hero, allowed the fullness of character and psychology. Woman: sidekick, sex object, tragic backstory, allowed to be defined only by what she gives to or removes from the male protagonist. Man is permitted to yearn, journey and discover himself and the world. Woman is expected to tend the hearth, wait for him, raise the children, prepare a meal and ready herself for his advances when he returns. The road, in large part, does not welcome women. It does not facilitate their presence. Men are permitted and expected to travel and explore, and are often met with support, encouragement and eventually praise. Yet if a woman shares those desires, she is considered selfish, undesirable, less than, and, if she ever makes it out the door, is often met with condescension, scorn, violence, hatred, sexual threats and worse.

It’s fitting, then, that Steinem’s love of the road and travel is tied inextricably to her lifelong campaign for women’s rights. Steinem found community on the road. By traveling from India to Native American reservations in the deepest Midwestern parts of our country, she learned from many different cultures. Her journey was not linear, and neither is her book, which is a collection of experiences that inform each other. Steinem experienced firsthand not only how patriarchy seeks tirelessly to reinforce itself in the face of reform attempts, but also how the women’s movement must advocate for, include and learn from Native women, black women, immigrant women, disabled women and queer women if it is to further its own cause at all. She saw resonance with their oppressions and recognized the pervasive power of white supremacy working against entire nonwhite groups, not only the woman. She also recognized that females of color, as well as queer and disabled women, face intersections of oppression that require their own attention as part of the Women’s Rights Movement.

“The root of oppression is the loss of memory.” So wrote Paula Gunn Allen, a Native American poet and lesbian activist. Those words resonate both with Steinem here and beyond her. When we allow our history to be told by the victors, we very often allow it to be biased by the oppressors. This begets lies that we tell our children and consequently creates a sociocultural misunderstanding of the fundamental truths of our nation. Many Texas textbooks teach that Africans “immigrated” to this country. Some children’s books refer to Harriet Tubman as a “field worker.” Most textbooks say that Columbus discovered this country. We cannot forget the truth. We must continue to tell it. We must remember, and base our future actions --- personal and political --- on the systems at work.

And so it is beautifully fitting that Steinem’s book ends with the departure of Wilma Mankiller, the first woman ever elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in modern times (women were commonly chiefs for centuries before white people ridiculed Native tribes for the practice). Wilma was a powerhouse, working towards independence, cultural preservation and equitable rights. She worked closely with Steinem for many years. Though MY LIFE ON THE ROAD spans decades and nations, it concludes with a moving tribute to Wilma. This is Steinem’s homage not only to the woman, but also to what she represents: the true beginning of this country, the true equality that comes not from a gendered hierarchy of responsibilities but from collaboration and communication, and the necessity of genuine memory.

MY LIFE ON THE ROAD is one of the most important women of our era speaking to us as if we are a confidante. It is personal, political and powerful --- massive in scope yet absolutely in love with intricacies. Steinem’s home today is a more stable solace, but it informs her love of the road as much as her travels have made the idea of a home a comforting one that does not have to mean the end of progress or adventure. The important thing is to listen to each other. Women do not necessarily belong in the hearth or on the road. Women belong where they choose to be. And, as Steinem emphasizes, so do you.

Reviewed by Maya Gittelman

I've wanted to read this book ever since I read a fascinating article about it last year in THE NEW YORKER. Unfortunately, at least for me, the article was a lot more compelling than the book. MY LIFE ON THE ROAD, for the most part, reads like a lot of warmed over journalistic leftovers. The exception was the first chapter, "My Father's Footsteps." Now that was interesting, because it offered a peek into Steinem's unconventional and nomadic childhood, the second child of a father who was a wanderer, always looking for his next deal, his next sale, and a mother who suffered from mental illness. It's pretty amazing that Gloria Steinem became the influential figure she is today, given this upbringing. It was also interesting to learn how shy she is about public speaking, even after a lifetime of participating in so many important historical movements - civil rights, women's rights, political campaigns, etc.

The book was a national bestseller, of course. I mean it's Gloria Steinem, for cripesakes. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for all she's accomplished. I used to read her Ms Magazine on a fairly regular basis back when it was new, in the 70s. But not since then. (Is it still around?) This book, though, well it just kind of meanders along with no particularly compelling forward momentum. I tried to finish it, but finally, after nearly 200 pages, I gave up on it. And I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those people who bought the book and made it a bestseller did too. Three stars? I think that means a book is 'okay.' That first chapter was in fact VERY good, so, along with a few other minor revelations scattered here and there, yeah, I'll give it an okay. But I probably wouldn't recommend it. I suspect I am just not the right audience or demographic.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

Reading this lively memoir of the vagabond life Gloria Steinem has led--first by necessity and then because she embraced it--made me want to hit the road myself in the hope that I could have even a fraction of her experiences. The varied places and people she’s encountered in her travels give her rich, interesting perspectives on the history and zeitgeist of the times she writes about, which extend from the later years of the Great Depression until today. It makes the book a fascinating, even inspiring combination of personal story and history that’s a lot of fun to read--and because this is Gloria Steinem, readers also get an enlightening front row seat for the burgeoning women’s movement of the 1960’s-70’s and its continuing development.

When she was a young child Steinem’s father ran a lakeside music venue in the summer, but once fall came he’d pack everyone in the car to spend the rest of the year driving around the country buying and then selling junk or antiques or whatever, earning enough of a profit to make it to the next town--an enterprise in which the whole family participated. Steinem thought she longed for a permanent home, but when she reached adulthood that didn’t happen. After college Steinem got a 2-year fellowship to study in India, but when she showed up at the ashram of Vinoba Bhave, one of the leaders in the land reform movement inspired by Gandhi, almost everyone was gone. Caste riots had broken out in nearby, now cordoned off villages, so the ashram residents had formed teams to slip under police barriers and travel from village to village hoping to help contain further violence. One more team wanted to go out, but they needed a women so Steinem was drafted, her first experience of traditional talking circles and modern community activism.

Working as a journalist back in the US, Steinem was dismissed by some of her male colleagues as a token “pretty girl” which helped lead her to the women’s movement and a continued life of organizing, activism, and travel. If you are expecting something dour and humorless, that’s not what you’ll find in this book. Steinem comes across as warmhearted, eager to learn from the people around her, and open to new experiences, all of which makes her wonderful company. I enjoyed learning more about mid-century politics and the growth of the women’s movement, but I also loved the personal glimpses she gives of people as diverse as Cherokee Nation chief Wilma Mankiller, who was a personal friend, and Frank Sinatra, who Steinem spent one awkward Thanksgiving dinner with--he didn’t talk much to anyone but he did let them watch while he put on an engineer’s hat and ran his toy trains around an elaborate track.

Steinem even works in interesting bits of older history, mentioning for instance that the American Constitution is partially modeled on the Iroquois Confederacy, but when Benjamin Franklin invited two Iroquois men to the Constitutional Convention to act as advisers, one of their first comments was something like--why aren’t there any women at this meeting? Good question.

This is a fine book. It starts slowly, with a portrait of her dysfunctional childhood perpetrated by a jovial, peripatetic father. I wondered why she structured the book this way, but it's worth it, because he really did influence her so significantly. Two of her finest qualities are a relentless good nature, and resilience. Her father, for all his faults, modeled them for her. No matter how bad things were, he found humor and meaning in setbacks, and you feel his influence all through the book.

Because of her homelife, Gloria was an outsider, an oddball, and for all her celebrity in the past 50 years, it has never gone to her head. I saw her speak at the University of Redlands a few years ago, and she spoke off the cuff, chuckling at anecdotes I couldn't hear because she didn't project very well. Turns out she's always had crippling stage fright.

I found the book interesting because it backfilled the feminist lore of my childhood (I was born in the mid-fifties). She informs us, for example, that the student and civil rights movements of the time were rife with sexism. The men, dedicated to their causes, needed SOMEONE to make meals and take notes, after all. And they didn't want their movements slowed down by feminism. A nice slap in the face.

But through it all, Gloria's retelling is sardonic and good-natured. And she models ways to handle adversity. For example, one time she was verbally attacked after a talk. The male audience member fussed and fumed about women, exemplifying the piggish chauvinism she'd just been trying to describe. She waited until he was done spewing, let the audience sit in silence for a few seconds, and then, smiling, said, "I didn't pay him to say that."

She investigates in uncomfortable places, always talking to regular people before her speeches. If she were to visit a university, for example, she'd first chat up the student who picked her up from the airport. "What are the biggest complaints on campus?" Etc. And then she'd use that information--often a surprise or embarrassment to the administration--to educate everyone.

You may not know that, for all her beauty and celebrity, GS is still kind of a dorky, self-effacing chick. If she can whisper in the ear of world leaders, she still nevertheless trembles when crossing a stage. She's humble, curious, and wry, the very antithesis of the superhero status she will rightfully be accorded in history.

This book is beautiful and inspirational and I am so glad I read it.

As a writer, Gloria Steinem pens with eloquence and grace. But it is her stories that trapped me - the adventures in her own life as she traveled across America and the stories she collected with several decades on the road. Not everyone could embrace the nomadic lifestyle, but in doing show she gained experiences and made such a big difference in the women's rights movement. I am impressed, and I am so grateful.

Not once does Steinem claim these things for herself - she speaks with humility and ingenuity. There are so many gold nuggets tucked into the pages of this memoir that it's one I know I will need to read again so I can appreciate it fully. If you are interested in the democratic campaign trail, feminism, minority voices, or women's rights, My Life on the Road is an absolute must-read.

Book: My Life on the Road
Author: Gloria Steinem
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

This is another Our Shared Shelf book. I will admit that I had never heard of Gloria Steinem or this book until I joined the group. I will say that it is worth the read and must read for anyone interested in women's studies.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how down to earth Gloria wrote. This book was filled with tales about her travels on the road and all of the people she meets. I will be honest I was expecting to get a lecture on feminism, but ended up being presently surprised that I didn't. However, this book really did make me pay attention. There was just something about Gloria's writing style that really made me listen. While I may not agree with every aspect of feminism, this was just one of those books that stuck out to me and made me stand back and really look at our world.

I really did like how this book addressed so many issues in American society. While I was familiar with some of the events and people, Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, and Hilary Clinton, it was very refreshing to learn about new things. I was very pleased to learn about things that are not common knowledge, such as all of the women's conference she mentions. My only regret with these events was that they were not really placed in any kind of order. Everything just seemed to be thrown all together.

I really did like how personal this was. Gloria writes and speaks from the heart, which must be a difficult thing for anyone to do. She really got me thinking and noticing a bunch of things that I would have never picked up on. For example, I never noticed how differently the media presented Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Though I really am not a supporter of either one of those women, it just got me thinking. Why do we insist on making women an item instead of looking at the entire person? Why must a woman have to look good in order to matter in society?

One thing that I do really admire Gloria for is that during the course of this entire book, she did not once bash men. This is part of the reason why some many of female friends will not support feminism, no matter how many times you try to tell them otherwise. Feminism is about equality for all women. I do think that if we had equality between both genders, then everyone will have more freedom. Equality cannot be achieved if both genders hate each other, which I do think is something that many people do not understand.
I will say that this is a wonderful and thought provoking read. Anyone interested in women's studies will enjoy this one for sure!

I'm happy I saw Gloria Steinem speak before reading the book. I could hear it all being read in her voice – like Vanessa Redgrave, without the British accent. The book was a good stand-in for the intimate conversation with her I craved. The smattering of photographs included from her personal collection made it feel even more so.

I read this book a little bit at a time during my lunch breaks. My Life on the Road was energizing, thought-provoking. A tome full of lessons she's gained from a lifetime of travel, Steinem offers up her memories in a way that I just loved. A short introduction, then a list of anecdotes – seemingly mismatched beads strung together by shared recurring themes of intersectionality, surprise, and heartache. Throughout it all, Steinem is openly, continually checking the assumptions she's made about others through the decades.

Steinem, a longtime Hillary Clinton supporter, does write about Secretary Clinton more than once, suddenly making me wonder about the timing of this book's publication. But Steinem's dependably relaxed and compelling prose tamped down suspicious thoughts that the book might be a shill for Hillary's presidential campaign. (I'm already a Hillary supporter, btw.)

A lasting thought I took away from My Life on the Road was how little of my country I've actually seen or learned about. There's so much history out there – and under our very feet in western Massachusetts' ancient agriculture mounds – of the Native people who thrived in this country before the arrival of white Europeans (and whose ancestors are systematically oppressed to this day). My wife is proud of her family's Cherokee heritage, but admittedly doesn't know much about it. Reading about Gloria's experiences and relationships with Native organizers and activists made me wonder how we can teach our future children about the heritage gained from their Southern mother's side.

I remember being in the Christiansborg ruins (built in 1167) underneath Copenhagen, Denmark by myself once, and wondering to myself that America's history was nothing compared to these old stone structures. That was my ignorance, and the absence of America's incredibly history (long before it was called America) from my classrooms. I didn't know that there are structures older than Stonehenge in our country, that there are people alive today who can trace their origins back a hundred thousand years in our country – not until I read this book at age 28. It was the most painfully beautiful kind of called-out feeling, like walking into the too-bright sunshine after being in a dark movie theater for too long, or a flower opening for the first time. I'm so sorry I didn't know before. I'm so glad I know now.

Feminist heroes are everywhere, but if I had to name half a dozen women that were at the core of the feminist movement that followed closely on the heels of the Civil Rights movement and the movement to end the US war in Vietnam, Steinem’s name would be among them. In fact, hers might be the first name out of my mouth. It was she who coined the salutation “Ms”, and who founded Ms. Magazine. When I saw she had written a memoir, I knew I had to have it, and when Net Galley and Random House gave me the DRC, I was delighted. But this is one of the few books that if I’d had to, I’d have been willing to pay full jacket price in order to read. Heroes are thin on the ground these days, and we treasure those that still walk among us.

My reading records reflect over 300 biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs I’ve read, and I didn’t even start listing them until about 3 years ago, so who knows how many? The one thing I know to expect, when someone really famous sits down to tell us about her life, is that the ego will be there. It might be veiled, especially if the person is famous for writing as opposed to something else, or it might be big and bold. Once in awhile it’s been so bald-faced that I came away wishing I hadn’t read the book so I could go on liking the author. So for one of the most famous of living feminists, I was braced and ready.

And this icon’s ego isn’t there. I don’t mean she hides it well; I just don’t find it. And it appears as if large amounts of time spent among Native sisters in struggle—Wilma Mankiller foremost among them—taught her so much about focusing on the circle, rather than a table that has someone at its head, a big-boss type, that she let go of whatever ego she might have been thinking about building. For example, when she works as an organizer, she dreads public speaking, but looks forward to the place at which one part of the auditorium begins to answer the questions from another part, and she knows a circle has formed, one in which she becomes just another person present. I was blown away!

Steinem began her career in journalism, and she is one of the finest writers whose work I have read. For a brief time in years gone by, I dismissed her because of her sometimes-attachment to Democratic party candidates, but the sum of her contributions has been so much more that I missed the forest for the trees during that time of my life. Now I want to read everything she ever wrote.

Travel is a great metaphor, but it’s also a material fact for Steinem. She grew up with a father who was a traveling salesman, and unlike most such men, he took his family with him. For most of her childhood, there was no home, merely a series of stop-overs. This rootless existence would leave some children traumatized. Kids thrive on routine, and not all would be able to translate constant travel into a sense of the usual. But Steinem mostly remembers it as a positive attribute, and credits her parents for their capacity to question social norms during a time most Americans were madly conforming. The fact that she continued to live out of a suitcase once she was grown and on her own is the greatest testament of all to her upbringing, and to her response to it.

There are oh, so many stories, some of which made me laugh out loud, and others that made me think. You can go winnow those out for yourself. And of course, my favorites may not be yours.

But the one thing I can promise you is a really great read, one with depth, yet not difficult to access. It’s friendly and feels as if we are having coffee with an old, dear friend, right at the table with one another. A circular table.

You have to read this book.

I loved it! Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. Without knowing it, you can see she's totally real, and open, about who she is without being conceited!! Her own compassion seems to have lead her to help others, everywhere, and it's amazing! She's not "entitled" one bit! Steinem's open mindedness, and cross culture friendships, and in her travels, we see how she became one of the best self taught organizers of her time. "Why she doesn't want to be in a car" are lessons in reality never seen in polls.. She discovers, that hearing from people from all walks of life, are always more accurate than polls on what will happen politically. The history and thinking, of those time until today, will be an educational reminder, and something many people, men and women will find eye opening. Compared to today, politically women are losing rights she helped us gain. It's inspiring, and makes me want to get out there myself.

I definitely wouldn't say that this book provided me with the reading experience or the insight/knowledge that I was hoping to gain from it. I actually found it significantly boring and it didn't really provide much in the way of interesting facts or history. I definitely didn't learn much more about the women's movement than I did in an introductory Gender Studies course - yes, intersectionality is important... point received. This is the kind of book that you can only write if you're super famous or enough people care about your life (Not to diminish the accomplishments of Gloria Steinem - I am personally thankful she, and people like her exist). It to me, just seemed like a big thank you to everyone in her life, or anyone who has had a positive impact on her personally. While it's nice that she wrote a whole book to show gratitude to people she loved and was/is thankful for, I'm not so glad I spent my money to read these personalized thank you notes.

I would have liked to have read a book by Gloria that provided more insight into the women's movement and her personal involvement in it. While I did get to understand her a LITTLE better through these stories, I definitely don't feel much more informed on the issues or history of the women's movement or Gloria's personal involvement. The whole thing seemed like it dragged on until she got all her gratitude out and then it was done.

The understated prose may make this seem like a light volume of reminiscences, but it demonstrates her main point: you have to listen. If you listen to everyday people, not politicians or pundits, you can see what is really going on in the world.

After introducing who she is by way of describing her father and his independent traveling spirit and her unwell mother who admired the Roosevelt’s, she shares what she has heard over the years and what she has learned from it.

Living in India for two years, Steinem came to understand Gandhian principles and started to learn to listen. She notes “talking circles” as ways to mediate and inform. She shares the fruit of her listening be through meeting native Americans, through listening in taxis, through young people on campus who pick her up at the airport or in listening to the audiences wherever she speaks. When she spends a weekend with corporate CEOs there is little to report.

You learn about the life of an activist. She is traveling: spending 8 days at home is a record. She gets stage freight and often thinks of what she should have said later. There are great anecdotes, for instance speaking at Harvard Law School where one of the faculty rises to tell her she doesn’t understand the traditions of HLS in a manner so out of control that he proved her point; another a former truck driver who showed her the truck driving world; another a young boy, who as a child was used as a girl.

Her observations are food for thought, for instance the animosity achieving women have for Hillary Clinton may be based on their sense of an inequality in their own marriages; Some who condemn her for “not throwing the bum out” have accepted infidelity in their own marriage and want her to “punish” their husband through her punishing Bill. Another observation is that almost all abortion clinics have served a woman who protested against the clinic the the day before and went back to protesting the day after. Steinem notes that these women often have no access to birth control are frequently pregnant, they need an abortion and then feel guilty about it.

Steinem has a lot to be proud of. She was foundational, perhaps pivotal, in a movement that improved lives for women. She faced down the establishment that wouldn’t allow women in professional schools (a waste of money and time, they said), police forces, the military etc. Rape is now treated like the crime that it is and sexual harassment is no longer a joke. She doesn’t rest on those laurels. Campuses where she once pushed for a women’s study course, now have a major, but she looks to increase the number of tenured faculty.

As an interesting aside, three of the subjects of the last four biographies I've read don’t/didn’t drive. Gore Vidal and Gary Gygax (creator of Dungeons and Dragons) and Steinem. Steinem devotes a whole chapter to it noting that being free from the wheel leaves her freer to listen and observe.

I highly recommend this book, but note, it is understated. Names are not dropped and there is only one celebrity anecdote (Thanksgiving dinner at Frank Sinatra’s). There is little on the outright hostility she faced. Some readers will be disappointed that there is no tell all: Nothing on her high profile boyfriends/dates, nothing on her brief marriage to the father of a Hollywood star, no backstory about her undercover “Playboy” article. She continues to lead a full life and while the glimpse of it she gives the reader seems light, there is a lot in this short book.

This book should be required reading for every woman interested in significant self-actualization. Living a principled life while also open to inspiration has enabled Ms. Steinem to fully become what she was clearly ordained to be. I found myself captivated by her personal stories, our history shaped by women, the tales of courage by love-motivated tribal elders hell-bent on basic human rights, and even the political nuances all told from a female vanguard organizing caucuses for critical communications behind the scenes.

I loved the whole woven thread of the Gandhian talking stick approach to inspired listening and speaking as a mature symbol for our times. Women are natural empathics and the gesture would bear well politically in North America as our present day parliament, dominated by men, often depicts 2 year olds attempting to tantrum the loudest is a debauched and skewed form of evolution as a tribal species. Kudos to Steinem for laying this beloved historical account for both women and men at our feet. As a publisher, writer and Libertarian, my gaze is postured more on the horizon of hope as Steinem has made my historical footing even more sound.

Excellent memoir by Gloria Steinem - I recalled Steinem as a key feminist writer and organizer from women's studies classes in college. But I was perhaps quite naively surprised by the breadth of Steinem's involvement in workers rights and her work with minority groups. I enjoyed that the book wasn't really written chronologically but more organized by her expositions on a certain topic, i.e her interactions with taxi drivers, her work in political organizing, and her extensive campus visits. I found myself sharing her shock when confronted with injustices and yet also her pride in seeing women come together and unite over human rights. Throughout her long and vibrant life she has interacted with some of the most pivotal politicians and social activists of our time, but never is she anything but humble, valuing the opinions of the young cab driver as much as the famous writer's. This is more than just a memoir but a call to action -to travel, to be involved with our communities, and most importantly to see outside ourselves.

This is not exactly a biography (she never mentions her late husband David Bale, for instance) but more a series of anecdotes about the journalist/activist’s adventures while traveling, which have taken up much of her life. She began at an early age, because her father was an itinerant antiques dealer who took his entire family on the road from the fall to the following spring. The best chapters describe her father and mother, who was a frustrated journalist and suffered from mental illness. Other good passages describe her dealing with flight attendants and taxicab drivers as well as one in which the driver of a limousine service introduces her to trucker culture. On the other hand, the book drags when she discusses such-and-such conference at such-and-such place at such-and-such time and gets rather repetitive, and she does a lot of name-dropping.

I don't often read non-fiction, and I'm even less likely to read a memoir. However, I've considered myself to be a Feminist for most of my life, and when I saw Gloria Steinem's new book on Netgalley, I had to request it. Beyond a few minor details, I don't know much about her, and I've never read any of her other books.

She's an excellent writer and story teller. That alone makes My Life on the Road worth reading. She's led a life of travel to the point that I think a better title might be "The Road: My Life." So, if you're looking for a good armchair travel experience, this book is it. Though the writing style is considerably different, I would say the book as a whole is similar to Henry Rollins' Smile, You're Traveling. The only issue I had with My Life on the Road was Steinem's very biased portrayal of political events. Not having known much about a couple of the events she wrote about, I later learned through some research that, though she was factually accurate, she didn't give the full story, and her incomplete version was a bit misleading. With that being said, I wasn't expecting a bias-free book. This is still a memoir, and, therefore, mostly her personal opinions and observations. Besides, when have politics ever been unbiased? Ultimately, the result is that I became interested in learning more about the subjects she discussed, and that's a win-win as far as I'm concerned.

A lot of celebrity memoirs have been released within the past couple of years, and it seems to be the new trend. Even if you're not a Feminist, but you love a bit of armchair travel, this one is an excellent choice.

I feel it's a "must read" for all women, girls, boys, and men. If this book was required reading in schools we would not be in the political mess we are in. Some topics: Racism, Hillary Haters, Indian Country, Equal Rights Amendment that to this day has not passed, Black women and how they were especially instrumental in fueling the women's movement, Obama's marriage, abortion, sex trade, migrants, welfare...yes, and feminism, but this book is so much more than bra burning. This book is both entertaining and an education at the same time. Five stars is not enough.

For me, a longtime fan of the author, this book was a delicious journey through times and places I had forgotten or never known. The peek into the author's personal life was so intimate, so revealing, that I felt like an honored friend treated to special stories that would not be revealed to the general public. Perhaps it is the author's fairly advanced age -- as timeless as she seems she is past eighty -- but there is a warmth and openness about her that makes this book a very special experience for the reader. There is wisdom here. And for that I am most appreciative.

But a caveat: this very interesting book is all over the place. Of course, it's called "My Life on the Road" so as regards geographical locations, you expect it to be all over the place. But thematically, it is just as blown by the winds. The seven chapters attempt to organize the themes into "My Father's Footsteps," "Talking Circles," "Why I Don't Drive," "One Big Campus," "When the Political Is Personal," "Surrealism in Everyday Life," and "What Once Was Will Be Again." But the organization is only partly successful. The presentation is not at all chronological, instead, it jumps from one year to another, one decade to another, back and forth in time. These unusual choices are not a bad thing, but further expression of the extraordinary perspective of the preeminent feminist of our time. Indeed, the author is unique, not in the loose interpretation of the word sometimes used with modifiers, but in the classic sense of "unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched." I highly recommend the book to all readers, not just admirers of the author. But do not expect anything conventional, do not anticipate a polemic, do not come to Ms. Steinem with limits on your expectations. Accept her in all her beauty as the wise, open, ever-learning woman that she is and prepare to be taken on a fine, life-loving journey.

I thought the book would be deeper; more about the philosophies she's developed. Mainly it is a reminder of all the the wonderful things she's accomplished. I guess she's trying to keep herself relevant.

I am so happy that I listened to the unabridged audio version of My Life On The Road by Gloria Steinem and narrated by Gloria Steinem and Debra Winger. Total playing time is 9 hours, 27 minutes.

I missed the opportunity of hearing Gloria Steinem speak at my Alma mater, the University of Iowa, back in the mid 1990s... I didn't attend Ms. Steinem's on campus speaking engagement for reasons I am unable to recall now. I now, of course, wish I had attended the event as I would love to hear Gloria Steinem speak at a live event.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to My Life On The Road by Gloria Steinem and would highly recommend this nonfiction book to all those readers who want to know more about Gloria Steinem's life, her travels on the road, and what she's learned from her life's travels and from other people she's met along the way.

I appreciate Gloria Steinem;s dedication in promoting women's issues.. However, the meetings, "talking circles", encounters just get tedious after a while. I was fine for the first 2/3 of the book. Sorry, I didn't love it.

In her new memoir My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem brings readers into her life of adventurous traveling– first starting with the influence her father had on her curious, vagabond nature. Steinem started living on the road as a child, craving the suburbia stability of a physical home, but wound up spending her entire life traveling, organizing, and exploring the world around her.

Steinem flawlessly stitched together stories and dialogue from her memories with a wise, knowing present voice, cluing readers into what she now knows that she did not then. I was specifically drawn to her memory of helping to organize the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971 and serving as a touchpoint between groups of women of different races, wanting to combine their ideas to create equality. I felt as though I was in the room of the day of the conference when their ideas were being read to the attendants, feeling the warmth and unity fill the room, while simultaneously feeling empowered by this momentus occasion as an important peak, fueling the incredible activist career of Gloria Steinem.

I found myself immersed in the world of Steinem from the very first page and never lost interest with her impeccable storytelling abilities.

FIVE STARS, for sure.

In one anecdote in her new memoir, "My Life on the Road," Gloria Steinem goes into a gift shop at the time of the last presidential election and notices that there are Hillary Clinton nutcrackers for sale. She asks an employee if there have been complaints (a few), and if they are selling (some). Then she inquires if there are similar ones for the male candidates. "Certainly not!" is the reply. Apparently, asking uncomfortable questions was a habit that Steinem developed early; at Smith College as a student, she once asked an admissions officer about the lack of African-American students. Traveling on a regular basis was also one, as this book shows.

Steinem notes in the beginning of "My Life on the Road," that this is the first time she has ever written directly about this way of life. Her purpose is both to share stories from her journeys and to encourage readers to spend some time traveling themselves. Life on the road began early for the author, as her father, who ran a dance pavilion in the summer, had perpetual wanderlust, and took his family around the country the rest of the year. Steinem's mother, who had had a career in journalism prior to getting married, also had an adventurous bent, though she also suffered from depression. As a girl, Steinem considered her more settled peers' lives to be exotic and enviable. She planned on having a traditional marriage and children, until she spent two years in India and decided that way of life wasn't for her. She then became a freelance journalist, public organizer, and founder of various feminist institutions, including MS magazine and in 1977, the National Women's Conference in Houston.

Steinem's time in India helped convince her of the importance of what are called "talking circles," and that more can be learned about people by direct contact, rather than say, political polls. It convinced her, too, that driving herself, as a mode of transportation, was more isolating and less productive than communal travel, a position she has stuck to throughout her life. We also hear about her companions on the road, many of whom are feminists, such as Dorothy Pittman-Hughes and Bella Abzug. Her journey takes her to presidential candidates' speeches, college campuses (too many, she says, to count), and events to protest racism, sexism and discrimination against Native Americans. It is a fascinating one, and though I'm not quite ready to pack my bags and head off into the blue yet, I enjoyed this book very much.

As the organizer of the humanist movement and founder of Ms. Magazine, Gloria Steinem has been a familiar figure for 5 decades now. Now, in her own words, she gives shape to the person behind the image of a woman sure enough of herself to wear jeans anywhere, smiling familiarly behind her iconic aviator glasses. From an early age, she learned through her nomadic father the value of traveling, how it is possible to learn more by moving and leaving your comfort zone, by listening and gathering experience through the experience of others. But there was also a longing in her for a homebase, which she never realized until she was over 60 years old. Even then, her itch to roam was stronger than ever, but made more satisfactory since she had a place to come home to.

Having read the author's previous books Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions: Second Edition (Owlet Book) (published the year I graduated college); 1991's Revolution From Within; 1994's Moving Beyond Words; and the 1995 literary biography by Dr. Carolyn Heilbrun The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem, this a personal account of the childhood, youth, a 1971 Harvard Law School equality speech that the attendees did not appear to endorse, all the way up to the iconic 1977 National Women’s Conference. that shaped this feminist icon. To understand the power and magnitude of this woman and the movement she championed, in my own personal context: my mother graduated from an accredited private college in 1960, she had a better paycheck out of college than my university degreed (and equally young father) but the checking account was in his name until 1968 (and only because he landed in the hospital unable to write a check or get cash to his wife to put food on the table or pay utilities or the mortgage), and he made every financial decision in their 40+ year marriage. Women truly were 2nd class citizens until my generation were handed equal rights (for the most part) on a platter. This insightful memoir will tell that story in the prose of a journalist that was in parts entertaining and moving.

I have not cried this much since I first saw Life is Beautiful or Steel Magnolias. If you read one book in your life please make it this one. I have never been more proud to be a feminist nor wanted to be a woman more in my life. We would live in a much better world if Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Gloria Steinem were all mandatory reading for every high school student in America. This is the one in ten thousand books I would rate with 6 stars if I could. I can even forgive Gloria for buying into the government narrative on everything from Dr. King's murder to 9/11 because she so enlightened me with all her stories of interesting social justice warriors she has worked with and fought for over the decades. Hell, I may even change my populist vote to Hilary Clinton come November.

In her new memoir My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem brings readers into her life of adventurous traveling– first starting with the influence her father had on her curious, vagabond nature. Steinem started living on the road as a child, craving the suburbia stability of a physical home, but wound up spending her entire life traveling, organizing, and exploring the world around her.

Steinem flawlessly stitched together stories and dialogue from her memories with a wise, knowing present voice, cluing readers into what she now knows that she did not then. I was specifically drawn to her memory of helping to organize the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971 and serving as a touchpoint between groups of women of different races, wanting to combine their ideas to create equality. I felt as though I was in the room of the day of the conference when their ideas were being read to the attendants, feeling the warmth and unity fill the room, while simultaneously feeling empowered by this momentus occasion as an important peak, fueling the incredible activist career of Gloria Steinem.

I found myself immersed in the world of Steinem from the very first page and never lost interest with her impeccable storytelling abilities.

FIVE STARS, for sure.

In one anecdote in her new memoir, "My Life on the Road," Gloria Steinem goes into a gift shop at the time of the last presidential election and notices that there are Hillary Clinton nutcrackers for sale. She asks an employee if there have been complaints (a few), and if they are selling (some). Then she inquires if there are similar ones for the male candidates. "Certainly not!" is the reply. Apparently, asking uncomfortable questions was a habit that Steinem developed early; at Smith College as a student, she once asked an admissions officer about the lack of African-American students. Traveling on a regular basis was also one, as this book shows.

Steinem notes in the beginning of "My Life on the Road," that this is the first time she has ever written directly about this way of life. Her purpose is both to share stories from her journeys and to encourage readers to spend some time traveling themselves. Life on the road began early for the author, as her father, who ran a dance pavilion in the summer, had perpetual wanderlust, and took his family around the country the rest of the year. Steinem's mother, who had had a career in journalism prior to getting married, also had an adventurous bent, though she also suffered from depression. As a girl, Steinem considered her more settled peers' lives to be exotic and enviable. She planned on having a traditional marriage and children, until she spent two years in India and decided that way of life wasn't for her. She then became a freelance journalist, public organizer, and founder of various feminist institutions, including MS magazine and in 1977, the National Women's Conference in Houston.

Steinem's time in India helped convince her of the importance of what are called "talking circles," and that more can be learned about people by direct contact, rather than say, political polls. It convinced her, too, that driving herself, as a mode of transportation, was more isolating and less productive than communal travel, a position she has stuck to throughout her life. We also hear about her companions on the road, many of whom are feminists, such as Dorothy Pittman-Hughes and Bella Abzug. Her journey takes her to presidential candidates' speeches, college campuses (too many, she says, to count), and events to protest racism, sexism and discrimination against Native Americans. It is a fascinating one, and though I'm not quite ready to pack my bags and head off into the blue yet, I enjoyed this book very much.

As the organizer of the humanist movement and founder of Ms. Magazine, Gloria Steinem has been a familiar figure for 5 decades now. Now, in her own words, she gives shape to the person behind the image of a woman sure enough of herself to wear jeans anywhere, smiling familiarly behind her iconic aviator glasses. From an early age, she learned through her nomadic father the value of traveling, how it is possible to learn more by moving and leaving your comfort zone, by listening and gathering experience through the experience of others. But there was also a longing in her for a homebase, which she never realized until she was over 60 years old. Even then, her itch to roam was stronger than ever, but made more satisfactory since she had a place to come home to.

Having read the author's previous books Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions: Second Edition (Owlet Book) (published the year I graduated college); 1991's Revolution From Within; 1994's Moving Beyond Words; and the 1995 literary biography by Dr. Carolyn Heilbrun The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem, this a personal account of the childhood, youth, a 1971 Harvard Law School equality speech that the attendees did not appear to endorse, all the way up to the iconic 1977 National Women’s Conference. that shaped this feminist icon. To understand the power and magnitude of this woman and the movement she championed, in my own personal context: my mother graduated from an accredited private college in 1960, she had a better paycheck out of college than my university degreed (and equally young father) but the checking account was in his name until 1968 (and only because he landed in the hospital unable to write a check or get cash to his wife to put food on the table or pay utilities or the mortgage), and he made every financial decision in their 40+ year marriage. Women truly were 2nd class citizens until my generation were handed equal rights (for the most part) on a platter. This insightful memoir will tell that story in the prose of a journalist that was in parts entertaining and moving.

I have not cried this much since I first saw Life is Beautiful or Steel Magnolias. If you read one book in your life please make it this one. I have never been more proud to be a feminist nor wanted to be a woman more in my life. We would live in a much better world if Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Gloria Steinem were all mandatory reading for every high school student in America. This is the one in ten thousand books I would rate with 6 stars if I could. I can even forgive Gloria for buying into the government narrative on everything from Dr. King's murder to 9/11 because she so enlightened me with all her stories of interesting social justice warriors she has worked with and fought for over the decades. Hell, I may even change my populist vote to Hilary Clinton come November.

Ms.Steinem's latest is an interesting story of a woman who has led a fascinating life. This is far from a biography, but it contains delightful stories of her interactions with her parents and many of the people she met while traveling. They range from the happenstance meetings with strangers to the famous. She is at her best when writing about politics from Adlai Stevenson to Hillary Clinton. Ms. Steinem's interactions with Betty Friedan, Bobby Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy as well as their campaigns are wonderful. Her description of her interactions with legendary Native American Wilma Mankiller is heartfelt and significant in many ways. She does a very good job of describing the political happenstance that gave us Clarence Thomas and ultimately George W. Bush in spite of the will of the people of Florida. For these memories, I believe her thoughts give us an important history of many significant events for which Ms.Steinem's was much more than a bystander.

Of course I've known who THE Gloria Steinem is for years, but like many women who feel feminism can only belong to "radicals", I never bothered to learn more. This book is a well-written book about travel and communication that made me feel more in solidarity with feminism, less judged for not conforming to the abrasive stereotype. I highly recommend it and look forward to reading another by the author.

In the 70's and 80's I was too busy making money as a TV comedy writer to pay much attention to the women's movement or Gloria Steinem. I felt like a trailblazer myself because I was one of the few women writers at MTM and, later, Spelling Entertainment. But now, being of an age with her, I finally see what she's been up to: changing my life and the lives of millions of women by calling a spade a spade; opening doors and creating possibilities. As I read this book I was moved to tears more than once. I like to tell a happy or a funny story so I've locked out many memories. She doesn't. She's real. And she's lived a life of service. I think that's what impresses me most. And she hasn't stopped. That's what inspires me now. Lynne Farr, author of On The Seventh Day She Rested

Not quite a memoir, and not a travel narrative, this is Gloria Steinem using travel as a springboard for reminiscing about some events over the years, some characters, brief encounters, behind-the-scenes moments. I didn't find any structure to it, it wanders from one decade to another and back, to one place and off to somewhere else. So sit back and relax while Steinem tells some stories from her very interesting life.

Her father was quite a character, restless and scheming, not exactly a role model, but an upbeat counterpart to Steinem's mother, a worrier. For me, Steinem's early career was most interesting, especially her complete disillusionment with Eugene McCarthy, who sold out in her eyes to eventually endorse Ronald Reagan In 1980, a shock to everyone.

Not a must-read, but a pleasant journey with a good storyteller.

I found this book a really great read. The style is accessible and the narrative flows beautifully, even though the stories skip back and forth in time. I found the book particularly compelling being in an election year and being constantly reminded of both how far gender equality has come and how terribly, terribly far we still have to go to reach true equality. Gloria Steinem is as astonishing woman who should go down in history as a truly great thinker and leader who completely changed social and political agendas throughout her lifetime. She is the real deal and a true inspiration. Steinem remains as relevant today as she has always been; her incredible mind keeps her open and honest and the wisdom of her experience is enormous.

An excellent book. I had heard of Gloria Steinem but other than knowing fairly superficial details like she was a leader in the women's movement hadn't read any of her books, heard her speak, etc. More than anything this book reminds me of travelogues like Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, one of my faves, only Steinem's book isn't just about criss-crossing the US or the globe geographically but also about how crossing social and cognitive boundaries, listening to other tell their tales and not pre-judging what someone will do or say based on appearance. As a minority woman, I especially appreciated her writing about Wilma Mankiller, Florence Kennedy, Eleanor Holmes Norton and other folks I am not familiar with but now must look up to learn more.

The book also proves Steinem's initial job as a journalist. It is compellingly written even as it informs. Sometimes you read a book and you learn a lot but it is a tedious read. Not this book.

Fabulous, meaningful read. Indicative of Steinem's dedication to feminism and women's stories, she doesn't dominate this book with page after page of "her." She shares the spotlight, actually shining the spotlight on the women around her, and in in the end you not only have heard their stories, you hear firsthand and from a distance, the story of Steinem's life. Great book! I highly recommend it!!

It is fascinating the journey of life that different writers have taken. You learn about Gloria Steinem's journey in MY LIFE ON THE ROAD. Her father and mother were fascinating people and had a profound influence on the choices that Steinem made for her own career and life.

For example, Steinem has never had a driver's license so she has always taken public transportation or taxis in her travels around the U.S. and overseas. The stories of people she met and what she learned are woven into these pages.

I heard this book cover to cover and recommend it.

Gloria Steinem is a warm,thoughtful and careful writer who, in this short book, retraces her pathways from early childhood into her ninth decade. She weaves memories and reflections together we details about the life of an "organizer". Her individuality is tempered by her fondness and respect for other strong women ...and men. A thoughtful and enjoyable read.

I listened to it on Audible and was able to share with my husband, who loved it just as much as me. I am a big proponent of storytelling as a way to relate and connect with each other and find common ground. Steinem gracefully told her life story (so far) of coming of age, traveling and organizing by weaving a tapestry of experiences. It is a joy to hear of her encounters with every type of human on the road, from taxi driver to stewardess and how she both learned from them and got to see the world through their eyes and stories. This book is relatable and remarkable, and makes my feminist hero accessible to anyone interested in a good biography. Thank you Ms. Steinem - you are my hero!

Wonderful book! Got it at the library but am buying it here to add to my library. Very insightful information and more than you'd expect. Her observations about our First Nation people and how their Iroquois Confederacy influenced our Constitution is eye-opening. I highly recommend it. It's a part of her life I never knew about. I also admire her tremendously. She was a beautiful woman and things could have come very easy for her in our beauty-worshipping, false-valued world. She chose the higher path.

My Grandmother sent me this book and I love it. I have always dismissed Gloria Steinem, but I realize I have fallen for the same propaganda that has followed her throughout her career. I love this book. I learned so much about feminism and the women's movement. Things that I should know but I didn't. I am so glad my grandmother shared this book with me. It has really changed my view on so many things and made me want to fight for peoples rights everywhere.

I appreciate Gloria Steinem;s dedication in promoting women's issues.. However, the meetings, "talking circles", encounters just get tedious after a while. I was fine for the first 2/3 of the book. Sorry, I didn't love it.

A wonderful book about Steinem’s travels over the past 50 years or so as well as a history of feminism over that period. I especially appreciated it because that half-century parallels my development as a feminist. She uses a series of anecdotes to describe various aspects of what she has experienced and learned over those decades, and they become strong examples of the challenges she and feminism have faced as well as the impact she and other trailblazers have had on women, men, cultures, governments, and more. I particularly enjoyed her taxi-ride experiences and the influence that American Indian women have had on her views and development. And I learned a lot!

I learned so much from this book. Especially the origin of modern democracy and the lives of indigenous people in the US. And, of course, the beginnings of the women's and civil rights movements. I admire her even more now.

Maybe we will see the ERA passed in her lifetime. I think we would have to add gender identity to the amendment with the discrimination happening everyday to trans people. It is so sad to see the racists and homophobes popping up from the bowels of our country. We need Gloria to organize against the hatred.

A very enjoyable memoir of a remarkable woman and great writer. I particularly liked the story of her young life on the road with her father and how see focused on the positives of that life which was indeed unconventional. She also has some strong connections to Native American women with many interesting stories.

This would be a good book for any who want to read about women and politics and I think a very good choice for younger women who may not know much of Gloria Steinem's contribution to the women's movement. Equality for women is certainly not fully realized but younger women may not be aware how different things were just a couple of generations ago.

Gloria Steinem encourages and inspires all women to get on the road, either literally or metaphorically.

After getting to know Gloria through this delightful book of life travel stories, I feel so guilty that I didn't get to know her better when her intellect and power was in full flower as a feminist icon when I was much younger. It could have made a difference in my life. I may very well have partially dismissed her because of her beauty, a topic she addresses in the book. However, she is still beautiful at 80.

This is not a woman's book but a human's book and you won't regret it if you give it a try, particularly, I think, if you are a man:

Enjoyed the anecdotes. Would have liked a bit more of her insight on where to head next in terms of feminism. It may not have seemed as urgent at the time - book was published in 2015 before the US Election.

Wonderful book telling Steinem's deeply personal story of politics and identity through framework of travel. As a man, I find her story totally inclusive and her discussion of feminist awareness and movement to have great perspective and insight.

I was a feminist in the 1970s and missed so much, I now realize, by not following what Gloria Steinem was writing and doing. This is an amazing book touching on many topics. I especially loved what she has written about native american peoples and traditions. Read it. Totally worth your time.

There was not a dull moment in reading. It is a well written account of the interesting life she had/has Society, not just women, have benefited from the work she tells about in this memoir. "Go Girl" said the woman cop directing traffic as Ms. Steinman crossed the street. "Go Girl"

I've been disappointed in this feminist icon. Her book was interesting, but disappointing. First of all, she broke the confidence of the doctor who served her (even though he is dead -- what about his family?) That was the kick-off. She's become a bit trite now, attributing everything women do that she doesn't agree with to a woman following a man. In the case of politics, she attributes anyone not wanting her candidate to some sexist point -- instead of giving the women that they want a more radical candidate that the right-wing standard. She's lost her edge, and so, expect that in the memoir.

Full of snippets and mini stories that make this book great for the right-before-bed/read-until-you-fall-asleep category. With every tale I felt like I was traveling and exploring with Gloria. This is one of those books that allows you to travel the world without leaving your bed/couch/table, etc. It's a great read if you want to learn about other cultures. I even found some further reading in the notes section.

This book is a beautifully written philosophical memoir of a life lived to truly change women's lives and societies attitude about women's roles.
I have had this book in my stack of " to get to" books for a few months . Sorry it wasn't on top! It's wonderful. Thanks, Gloria.

Gloria Steinem writes a book containing her musings and accounts of her travels, meetings and speeches. She describes herself as her father's daughter, since he was always on the road and never stayed home. She gives a brief idea of her life growing up; but this is definitely not an autobiography. She skips over much of the information that would be in an autobiography. She mentions an engagement, but not any real facts and as for the 2 years she spent in India she basically just tells about a few days spent traveling in a woman's train car.

Her opinions and observations are frank. At times she does not seem very open minded or have empathy to all, there is some stereotyping. She does say with all her travels she knows more and better about conditions than politicians. She recounts and gives her sentiments regarding the candidates she has worked with. Her attitude is somewhat pompous at times - as if she knows all and others must learn from her.

The stories jump around in time and place. Within a 5 page sample her recollections contain: no date, 2014, 1980, then 1996, the end of the millennium, 2000, 2003, no date, then 2002, 2003, 2008 and no date. There are quite a few narratives that do not tell what year they occurred in. One can see how her tales hop around and for some - these scattered recollections might be confusing as to what was happening politically and socially during the time she is talking about.

Most interesting are her recollections of a speech at Harvard Law School and what she has learned from taxi drivers. It is amazing the number of people she encounters more than once. Her reactions and emotions are very candid.
This is an interesting form of history of the ERA, and of the gradual awakening of an attempt for equality for women and a peak into one of the major forces in that movement.
Readers interested in women's history, recent history, sociology, and of course Gloria Steinem herself would enjoy this book.

This book is well-written, a series of anecdotes and reminiscences that individually are okay, but put together are fantastic, like a miraculous soup where some special flavor emerges that isn't just the sum of its ingredients. And I love that Gloria didn't drive!

I expected some feminist polemic that I would have to force myself to read. I found instead a delightful, insightful story of a remarkable life. Gloria Steinem made me appreciate a woman's life and better appreciate what women add to our culture.

Famed feminist Gloria Steinem has written some intelligent and thoughtful essays that make up her new book MY LIFE ON THE ROAD. While Steinem's writing is very readable it sometimes tends toward the dry and she has a bit of a condescending tone at times.

Wonderful insight into the 70's and her role in it. Fascinating person and still actively involved with making the world a better place.
She has touched the hearts and minds of people around the world. Well worth the read.

How did Gloria Steinem become so compassionate? By listening? It's Gloria Steinem's story, a bit of national history and observations of human wisdom gleaned along the byways. Stand with your political convictions rather than with politicians is one of the big messages gleaned from this book. And listen to the folks.

Gloria Steinem has lived many lives and her stories are so interesting. She does get off topic (in my opinion) for a bit talking about how wonderful Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton are. Other than that, a great read!

I love Gloria Steinem, so it is fairly natural that I enjoyed My Life on the Road right from the star. However, I feel like it delivers in such a way that those who aren't overwhelmingly into Steinem could enjoy it as the "journey" on the road evolves. Journey is in quotation marks because this isn't a destination focused volume. Instead, the journey is a series of people who move in and out of time in the pages of the book as Steinem encounters them as she campaigns for women's rights and travels to the four corners of the world.

A person with Steinem's clout could have easily written this book and had only themselves as the focus, but the spotlight is often on the stories she encounters and then shares in a way that makes you feel like you are reading a travel log that has just been through a copyedit process to make it press ready. I will be returning to this volume and embracing the feeling it leaves me with for some time.

This is a fascinating and well-written book about Gloria Steinem's life on the road as a writer and activist. I don't agree with her politics and don't support all her causes, but I totally respect and applaud her passion and enthusiasm for them.

My favorite part of the book was about her unorthodox childhood and her unusual family. I had a conventional childhood with a conventional midwestern family, so it's hard to even imagine how she felt dealing with her strange upbringing. The fact that she was able to turn out so strong and focused is amazing.

I also loved her stories about cab drivers. I haven't had that much experience with cab drivers living in Kansas and California, and it's hard to imagine a life without driving; but Gloria manages to make that yet another positive in her life.

Whether you agree with her or not, this book is a very enjoyable read.

We, as women, often don't know what we don't know - we accept certain things because "it's always been that way." This book is one of the best books I've ever read. EVERYONE needs to read it - especially young women. This is an important work and one that sheds a lot of light on the women's movement. It also proves that you are never too old to change your thinking about the world!

This book is a revelation--seriously. Amazing account of American history told through a collection of stories on the road channeled through one brilliant, sensitive, and listening woman. My feeling is that if this was a required reading of every high school senior or young person our country would radically change within 30 years. Plus it's written in such a humbled tone. I finished it within days. Quite moving. Could not recommend more.

I'm not a fan of Ms Steinem, and I'm not one to agree with her opinions and her viewpoint. However, that's beside the point. I read this book for more understanding and I did receive it. I can't dislike her. She's honest and sincere in her viewpoint. If you are a Steinem fan, of course you'll read it and love it.

However if you're like me and put her in the extremist category, You can still gain understanding of her as a person. Do open your mind a bit and listen to her. I believe you will find it easier to accept her as a person.

Gloria Steinem life is my personal history. I recall buying the first copy of Ms. magazine - I saved it for a year. Her saga is adventurous. It is clear that she frequently went where she didn't want to go for the good of the Women's Movement. Her sustenance through every trial was always like-minded women. Her Portrayal of Bella Abzug was stunning and enlightening. I did not know what difficult, impossible cases Ms. Abzug took on. Steinem's speech at Harvard Law School is the most telling recounting in the memoir.

I waited for weeks to get this book from the library. I had never read one of Gloria Steinem's books before, and now I want to read them all! I learned so much American history and enjoyed the author's honesty, writing style, and point-of-view. Anyone, male or female, can benefit from reading "My Life on the Road."

I remember the day I found the tiny, but well chosen, stash of feminist literature in my upstate NY high school library. That reading led me to Ms. Magazine, and a life-long appreciation for Gloria Steinem.

I have read all of her books, and the one I connected to the most was "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions," as my mother was also bipolar and my father, although he adored her, was ill equipped to deal with it.

"My Life on the Road" condenses Steinem's travel life into themes - college campuses, taxi rides, air travel, family road trips, political travel, etc. She tells stories about meeting fans, foes, and all matter of extremists; stories about having her own stereotypes smashed and others about meeting people a second time, often decades later, and completing their story.

These are tales of mostly ordinary people. Very little flash and celebrity, but a lot of deep humanity.

No matter how much you think you know about Gloria or feminism, this book reveals a personal side rarely discussed. Her ability to spend life on the road was a cost she willingly paid. After fifty, she first decided to stop living without savings and also created a home. I love to learn from women over eighty who chose a life instead of just blowing in the wind.

This book is just fascinating. I am fourteen years younger than Ms. Steinem, so she has been a journalistic figure since my teens. She has been in the places we all wished to be, breaking the ice, serving as a mentor, and looking great in a pair of glasses. To have her share her memoirs in this volume in such a revealing, upfront way is a reading pleasure. She has crisscrossed the world and reported back to us, her generation. Now she fills in the details of a lifetime of listening, learning, and serving iin a way that leaves us in a better place.

I am glad I did not have to wait, but this will make a great gift book this holiday season.

This passionately and intelligently written book is true gem. I loved hearing about how Steinem's unconventional childhood and has reverberated throughout her life, informing everything from her insecurities and life choices, to her passionate commitment to social justice and giving voice to those who are less empowered. This is a tour-de-force from a writer and social activist whom could not admire more.

I have not read Gloria Steinem since my 20's. I saw her interview with Oprah where she said she grew up in a trailer on the open road.
This is a must read for any woman who has been traveling or wants to travel. It gives you an "open road state of mind" wherever you are. Fantastic, read it in two days.

In my effort to read more non-fiction this year, I was thrilled to find this excellent memoir by Gloria Steinem. Steinem has lived quite a life and she presents it with great honesty and passion. I have not always agreed with her, but truly admire her work and her commitment to equality. She was a hero when I was younger and inspired many of my own beliefs about equality and politics. No matter how you feel about Steinem's activism, she has lived a remarkable life and this was a really candid account of her travels, her work and her beliefs. I found the book interesting, energetic and extremely hopeful. Steinem is an excellent writer, and I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a solid non-fiction read.

Best book I have read in years and years. I always heard much of Steinem but am in so much more awe of her. She is full of warmth. We need more leaders like her everywhere. Leaders who listen and are less impulsive.

I couldn't put it down- it flowed so easily
I've lived through so much of this history and some is familiar but none did I fully know until now
A definite requirement for my daughter's (18 yo) generation to read !

Poorly written, she floats between years so much you lose track, she name drops, but only the best people , she makes sure she tells us how often someone stops her to day she is amazing . Gloria uses the word surreal dozens of times. Her road stories seem made up. She puts on so many aires it annoyed me so much. I didn't want to finish , but as it was a book group book I did...one or two at most good chapters the rest !!!! Yuck

Gloria Steinem changed so many things for women. She was the one that brought
awareness to the wrongs we as women were accepting as "the way it is". She was my hero.
This book was so filled with political bashing, I actually felt used. There will be no doubt about
where she stands in the political arena after this read.

A book on travel with wonderful stories and history leaves out her accepting C.I.A. funds to send rah-rah flag waving American youth to "counter" the more honest perspective on U.S. racism, sexism, destruction of indigenous populations at home and around the world, and war. She damaged and disparaged those who knew better. This happened in Vienna in 1959 and Helsinki in 1962. I was at the 1962Helsinki World Youth Festival and heard her people tell delegates that stories of discrimination, lynchings, and worse were the lies of what Gloria Steinem called Communist youth. She served as Director of the so-called Independent Research Service, funded by the CIA. This behavior was reported by progressives at the Festivals who knew and has been corroborated by reputable journalists. Especially as a journalist, she should report the good, thebad, and the ugly. She may be embarrassed now but it is important omission from this book.

I've been a fan of Gloria Steinem for awhile. She is one of the (maybe the) most important feminists ever, and she changed the game for women with the introduction of Ms. Magazine, which is still alive and kicking. But this memoir? Eh. It's about Steinem's experiences "on the road," traveling. That's the uniting theme for these individual essays, but the whole thing feels very disjointed. There's one especially awkward essay about how she prefers taxis over driving a car herself, and how good it makes her feel to be with "real people" like cabbie drivers. She doesn't acknowledge her privilege for being able to afford taxis everywhere.

These essays are well-written, in the sense that Steinem is an intelligent woman, but reading them is a dry experience. It's like the publishers want you to like this book because Steinem wrote it instead of because it has some interesting content. It's just a lot of boring writing that doesn't really catch your attention or interest you in any way with insight or humor.

The freedom to travel should be right, not a luxury. Travel by the individual, enriches the community. Another book by Gloria Steinem which carries an important message for everyone, regardless of gender.

Where to start? My image of GS is shattered. Name-dropping, effortless writing, tropes and cliches galore. She places herself into history. Shallow. Only Bill Clinton's writing is more vacuous. If she reads this review, she will probably mark it as a connection to Bill. When I read about her references to India, I am reminded of Sri Paul Twitchell, another appropriately forgotten guru.

Her accomplishments are better than this book.

Editor: Ms Steinem, we think it's time you wrote another book.
Gloria Steinem: Hmm. It's all been fairly extensively mined. Oh, but I do have a couple of good stories about taxi rides.
Editor: That sounds good. Maybe we could devote a chapter to taxi stories.
Gloria Steinem: And I met an interesting woman on a plane once.
Editor: Ok, it sounds like grouping it around a traveling theme might pull it all together nicely.
Gloria Steinem: Can I write about my Dad too?
Editor: That sounds good. Anything else you'd like to cover? Hillary Clinton is very topical.
Gloria Steinem: I'd like to talk about all the campaigning I've ever done and I can write about Hillary as part of that. Oh and I want to write about Native Americans as well. I've got some stories that I've been drafting over the last 10 years or so. I don't think people realize what an amazing culture they have or that the US Constitution is based on the Iroquois Confederacy.
Editor: Ok...doesn't quite fit with the traveling theme but maybe we can put that all in the second half and people won't notice. They always love what you write, you know that. It'll be terrific!

Essentially self-serving nonsense from one of the group of "feminists" who acted as cheerleaders for Bill Clinton's cowardly attack on a young woman who had made the mistake of thinking he had integrity. Until Steinem faces the reality of her actions I find anything she writes to be worthless.

On one hand it is very insightful book in that it really does tell you what women in society has gone through. We have been marginalized for mega years and treated like dirt. On the other hand, and this IS huge, she refuses to recognize the rights of ALL women! She still marginalizes the rights to the female in the womb as some blob is so disgusting and filthy and dirty that is deserves to die at the hands of any would be mother who despises that blob! That woman who IS an adult by now, who survived an abortion that tried to kill a FEMALE at the age of 4 months in the womb, did NOT WANT TO BE MURDERED BY HER MOTHER! That female considered abortion murder, as she should. If we can not murder a person who lived a live and whose heart is on life support but whose brain is active, and if we can not murder a person whose heart beats, then how can we justify murdering a person whose heart is beating but is still has a part of their body attached to the umbilical cord? How can we deny those female rights the right to live and choose?

Further more, she does not really identify that fact that many girls are murdered in China for not having a the right body part to think with! Abortion needs to be outlawed world wide. However, China and their evil against women also needs to be outlawed. This is where it gets tricky. If those daughters are not murdered in the womb, than what would happen to them if they survived? Christians as a rule, do NOT all rush in to adopt. The World who hates their Jesus, refuses to rush in and adopt too! Most families do not have the tools to handle all the PTSD that the child they could adopt would have. What I am saying is that sometimes, we need to solve a bigger problem before we can arbitrarily stop abortions in countries where the child might go through sheer horror if they were not aborted in the first place. The Christians could step up to the plate, get outside of their comfort zones, and create more businesses so that they will have the money so that they could adopt and start orphanages and give all children hope!

This is why we need to see ALL sides of the coin and not look at life through "my way or the highway" blinders. Those blinders do not work! They get people murdered! And this is from someone who wanted to die in the womb when I WAS YOUNG BUT NOT NOW! My own mother finally learned to not be abusive. She had PTSD. I learned from my own self-studies on sociology, criminal justice, race and various discrimination history in the world that it is not that women with PTSD should be encouraged to murder their child lest the child be abused, or become a drug addict like they are (in the case of drug addicts), or hated or some other horror befalls them because the would-be mom is not quite right in the head. No! Instead, it is we need to better educate the would-be mother in how to overcome lifes ills and whatever it was that made her want to be the way she is! This is called empowering women to be all that they can be! We do NOT empower women to be all they can be by pushing murder of children!

Lastly, Planned Parenthood was involved many botched legal abortions! MANY! And this info came from a very reliable source - a person who used to help perform those very abortions where women died on the table! The only way to stop botched abortions if we take the money making OUT of abortions. This means that they would make the same amount of money for themselves and for the clinic whether the do the abortion or send the pregnant lady packing and NOT perform the abortion. We have no way of knowing which women will die if they have an abortion no matter how well that abortion is done, expect in very specific cases. This is not good enough. We need the truth to come out and not just "pro-women's rights but only if they are out of the womb". That doesn't work. Also, it does take TWO to tangle. What about HIS rights? He should have a right too! It IS his child with HIS DNA! This is also why I was surprised Gloria Steinem married. Her denying men's rights to their own child, made me think she hated men. I was wrong here! ;)

In conclusion, lets support ALL women's rights and NOT just those on the right side of the womb! Thanks!

So so good to get this book along with all the others I have purchast. I really love being able to get these on my Kindle. the store is just so great and the service is second to none,. (I think that is enough this time you will be getting a complex!!!!!!!!) I better be carefull as you will not know my sence of humour. Thanks again Anni

Same OLD cliched crap recycled from "the good old days". There's nothing fresh, new or relevant here. Young people, do not waste your time with this book. Read Jodi Angel, Louise Erdrich, Lawrence Durrell or Elena Ferrante. Read a biography of Isak Dinesen, a woman who, by her life, taught courage and bravery in the midst of great upheaval. Do not model your politics or yourselves after this sad woman. Over 57 million innocent babies (including Steinem's own "inconvenient" baby) have been murdered and their organs and body parts sold, thanks to the senseless politics of Steinem and her ilk. Think for yourselves!! Save your money and buy yourself a nice pair of shoes instead.

In today's world we have an enormous number of options to spend our leisure time on. So many books to read, so much good music to listen to, so many sock drawers to be rearranged. It is with this in mind that I cannot think of a bigger waste of one's time than listening to Gloria Steinem. She would have done everyone a favor if she had stayed on the road.