Old Adam, new Eves by Richard Grunberger

This book profiles more than two dozen women of diverse national and social origin whose lives represent the whole gamut of male/female relationships - from vulnerable dependence through combativeness to ego­centric self-assertion. Half were wives, or mistresses, of famous politicians, thinkers, authors and composers; the other half achieved fame through their own efforts, whether in politics, literature, theatre, film, ballet, or as 'free spirits'. The entire engrossing, if at times irri­tating, range of female role models is on women who lived only through their men, women who shared husbands with others, women who fought fathers on behalf of, or over, children, women who were cast aside and committed suttee; but also free spirits unfettered by marriage and conven­tion, women who dominated, or manipulated, their menfolk, women who placed ambition before family consideration, and women who fought for their 'sisters' or for other ideals. Profiles Maya Angelou; Lida Baarova; Simone de Beauvoir; Annie Besant; Vera Brittain; Nancy Cunard; Isadora Duncan; Jane Fonda; Jarmila Hasek; Cynthia Koestler; Mamaine Koestler; Krupskaya; Erika Mann; Jenny Marx; Golda Meir; Romola Nijinska; Dorothy Parker; Eva Perón; Lina Prokofiev; Elvira Puccini; Jiang Qing; Clara Rilke; Alleluyova Stalin; Sonia Tolstoy; Helene Weigel; Friederike Zweig; Charlotte Zweig.