“A sharp and compelling memoir” of a feminist icon who forged positive change for herself, for women everywhere, and for the world (Rosemary G. Feal, executive director of the Modern Language Association).
Florence Howe has led an audacious life: she created a freedom school during the civil rights movement, refused to bow to academic heavyweights who were opposed to sharing power with women, established women’s studies programs across the country during the early years of the second wave of the feminist movement, and founded a feminist publishing house at a time when books for and about women were a rarity.
Sustained by her relationships with iconic writers like Grace Paley, Tillie Olsen, and Marilyn French, Howe traveled the world as an emissary for women’s empowerment, never ceasing in her personal struggle for parity and absolute freedom for all women.
Howe’s “long-awaited memoir” spans her ninety years of personal struggle and professional triumphs in “a tale told with startling honesty by one of the founding figures of the US feminist movement, giving us the treasures of a history that might otherwise have been lost” (Meena Alexander, author of Fault Lines).
Founder of the Feminist Press tells her life story as an activist, scholar, and publisher.
“A Life in Motion is the inside story of the birth of women’s studies as a discipline, the rise of an international feminist movement, and the role of women in publishing and education. A sharp and compelling memoir.” —Rosemary G. Feal, executive director of the Modern Language Association
"If words speak truth we have it here in Florence Howe's long awaited memoir. Out of the pain of childhood, the deprivation, the want, comes the story of a woman's endurance, the voice of a self searching out worlds in which to be, a tale told with startling honesty by one of the founding figures of the US feminist movement, giving us the treasures of a history that might otherwise have been lost." —Meena Alexander, author of Fault Lines
"In this bold and courageous memoir Florence Howe transports us across class, gender, race divides—in and out of love, deprivation, and tragedy—along her activist journey toward profoundly creative work, and the abiding love of generations of chosen family. Everyone concerned about global feminism, women’s contributions, and humanity’s future will be enhanced and enchanted by A Life in Motion." —Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt
"Honest, brave, frank, engrossing, this memoir offers an extraordinary history of one woman's life — Brooklyn-born, Jewish, New York feminist intellectual, international role model, and publisher." —Shirley Geok-lin Lim, author of Among the White Moon Faces
