"The Nature of This Flower Is to Bloom" - a quote by Alice Walker, quoted in this book.

Steinem writes "Without self-esteem, the only change is an exchange of masters; with it, there is no need for masters." Steinem discusses how to identify patterns and definitions that are familiar and feel like home, yet are counter to our higher priority intents and health.

"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." Muriel Rukeyser, quoted in this book.

Steinem honors her mother by saying, "she managed to break the pattern of her own upbringing and pass on something quite different to us . . . my mother did her best to make us feel unique and worthwhile . . . 'Children don't belong to us,' she used to say, paraphrasing what she had learned from this blend of many world religions . . .'we don't own them. We help them become who they are.' "

Steinem writes "Hierarches try to convince us that all power and well-being come from the outside, that our self-esteem depends on obedience and measuring up to their requirements." Conversely, she points out that in Greek philosophy Allotriosis, "Self-alienation," for instance, was the greatest evil . . . and oikeiosis ("self-love," "self-acceptance,"or "self-contentedness") was the greatest goal. Plato called "rational self-love' crucial to progress because it alone 'requires a man to be concerned for his own future condition.' Aristotle equated self-contentedness with happiness."

After reading this book, I believe more strongly an idea I believed before reading this book: I don't primarily define Steinem as a great feminist thinker. Rather, she is a great social philosopher across many non-gender, non-race, non-religion, non-nationality, and non-era dependent disciplines. If I ever have a daughter, I will make sure she studies this book.

"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you. " Jean-Paul Sartre, quoted in this book.

Steinem asserts: "The art of life is not controlling what happens to us, but using what happens to us." ( )

It's been a long time, but there were several important truths in this book, still are. ( )

From Library Journal
One of the founding mothers of contemporary feminism has written a self-help book that utterly transcends the genre. In lucid prose that is by turns brave and funny and tender, Steinem takes us on a journey of circles and spirals because, as she says, "If we think of ourselves as circles, our goal is completion . . . if we think of work structures as circles . . . progress means mutual support and connectedness." Drawing from sources that range from Margaret Mead to Chief Seattle (Sealth), from Alice Walker to the Upanishads, as well as from her own life and the lives of her friends and colleagues, she provides a series of pathways to self-esteem. Steinem's book unfolds like a flower: it offers literature, art, nature, meditation, and connectedness as ways of finding and exploring the self. Her message is that it is our very selves that we need to trust, despite educational and societal pressures that may denigrate the female experience. Her focus is women, but she is clear that what she has to say is for men, too, and she is neither strident nor dismissive. Recommended for all collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/91.
- GraceAnne A. DeCandido, "School Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.