Einstein's Wife: Work and Marriage in the Lives of Five Great Twentieth-Century Women [Paperback]

Andrea Gabor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

Inspired by her generation's experiences juggling career and home life, journalist Andrea Gabor set out to define the unique stuff of which great women are made and chart the often tangled territory in which love and ambition intersect. Among the women she profiles are Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, architect and urban planner Denise Scott Brown, and Mileva Maric Einstein, the scientist whose marriage to Einstein ended in tragedy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The difficulty of reconciling a career with marriage is dramatically illustrated in this study of five pioneering women. Gabor (The Man Who Discovered Quality), formerly a senior editor at U.S. News and World Report and a married mother of two, combines excellent research with lively writing in these portraits of five women married to husbands in the same professional field as their own. In the cases of scientist Mileva Maric (Albert Einstein's first wife) and artist Lee Krasner (painter Jackson Pollock's wife), both women sacrificed time and energy to advance their husbands' careers and provide harmonious domestic atmospheres (despite, in Krasner's case, a frequently drunken and abusive partner). Although the husbands of architect Denise Scott Brown and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer encouraged their wives to pursue their careers, the women were hampered by the sexism rampant in their professions. In a closing interview, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor describes how she balanced the traditional woman's role with a successful judiciary career.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Gabor provides profiles of five women who have helped the reputations of their spouses as well as achieving their own personal and professional goals. The five biographies focus on women who have achieved that balance between family and career which is so difficult to reach: each carries messages which women and men can apply to their own lifestyles. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140159932
• ISBN-13: 978-0140159936
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #627,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The World is Changing...., May 1, 2001

By 

Thomas F. Mcguire (Cave Creek, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Einstein's Wife: Work and Marriage in the Lives of Five Great Twentieth-Century Women (Paperback)

Since the beginning of the 20th century women have become able to access higher education. Political leadership has also come notably within the reach of women. Yet, most women also elect to be wives and mothers. Although this will always be a difficult balance to achieve, societal changes have made it possible for a woman to take pride and satisfaction as professionals and as family persons. Still, two factors seem critical. The support of an understanding spouse as well as flexibility and planning are essential. This book tells of both failures and success in achieving their goals. The author has carefully chosen five notable women to show the spectrum from failure to success in attainting that balance.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor scholarship on Einstein's first wife, October 17, 2009

By 

A. H. Esterson (London) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Einstein's Wife: Work and Marriage in the Lives of Five Great Twentieth-Century Women (Paperback)

Lettitia M. Fey's comment about the chapter on Mileva Maric (that the author's quoting of conversations between her and Einstein was highly suspect, and an indication of dubious factual integrity) is pertinent. The numerous errors, misconceptions, and tendentious interpretations in that chapter are legion and do not reflect well on Ms Gabor's capacity for dispassionate historical research.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Einstein's Wife, June 9, 2009

By 

Lettitia M. Fey "lala" (Port Orange) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Einstein's Wife: Work and Marriage in the Lives of Five Great Twentieth-Century Women (Paperback)

I was skeptical about the factual integrity of this book soon after reading the first chapter. Conversations between Mileva and Albert Einstein during their early encounters with one another quoted "verbatum" were among the highest of suspect considering the impossiblity of such knowlege. Upon further investigation it was found that the source for which Andrea Gabor uses much of her basis is, in better terms, lacking in positive peer review among noteworthy scholars of this subject. I would not use this book as a source of imperical documentation about the life of Mrs. Einstein.