Life So Far: A Memoir

by Betty Friedan

Book Overview

It was Betty Freidan herself, in Life So Far, who spoke about her life and career and told us what it was all like from the inside. With the unsparing frankness that made The Feminine Mystique one of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684807890
• ISBN13: 9780684807898
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A Look Back

This is a courageous book written by a courageous woman. The story is of a life that continues to endure despite many hardships. If Betty Friedan had been less bright, one wonders if her life would have been easier. My personal favorite part in the book is that of her childhood. One can see her development as a feminist. When one is involved in raising daughters, I feel there is alot to learn in this book. As an aunt with four young nieces, I see the great responsibility one has in raising women to become leaders in the world today. That is why I recommend this book for library use.

a remarkable woman's journey

Betty Freidan comes through clearly in her book---superbright, sensitive, vital, a woman who has taken great pleasure in men, children, writing, and the women's movement she sparked in l963 with the publication of "The Feminist Mystique." She's good company, as frank about her foibles as she is about her gifts and accomplishments. Unlike the extremists who entered the women's movement after her, she is balanced and moderate. "I've always thought of women's liberation as men's liberation as well." She says about what she might want on her gravestone, "She helped make a world where women feel good about being women and free to really love men." A recurring motif in her memoir is what she calls her "Jewish existential conscience", a feeling that she has to use her life to make the world better. (The "Christian correlation" might be, Jesus' parable of the use of talents.) She has indeed been a friend to women----and to men--everywhere.

Must Read

A must read for those of us who were lucky enough to come of age in the 60s. Friedan left me with a profound sense of gratitude. Because of NOW's vigilance, I had the "right" to carry my daughter to term without being fired from my job as a high school teacher in 1974 . Because of the movement's persistance, I had the "right" to seek and obtain a job as a Superintendent of Schools in a market that was 90 percent dominated by men. Friedan's words inspire me to do more to improve conditions for children and families.

A Must Read

In college I read The Feminine Mystique. How wonderful to read Betty Friedan's intimate account of her life and the struggle for women's rights so far. Her style makes the reader feel she is having a chat. Now I want to read everything else she has written.