Einstein's Wife and Other Women of Genius

by Andrea Gabor

Five intimate portraits of exceptional women include Mileva Maric, scientist wife of Einstein; Lee Krasner, artist married to Jackson Pollock; Maria Goppert Mayer, scientist, mother, and Nobel Prize winner; architect Denise Scott Brown; and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, History, Feminism

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Lurdes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book is intriguing -- an in-depth look at five women with "enduring" marriages and "significant" accomplishments. But I came away rather disgruntled with the results: Mileva Maric Einstein, while a brillant science student, never had a career or much of a marriage because of her husband's work and horrendous treatment of her and her children; the artist Lee Krasner had a tragic marriage to Jackson Pollock and was forever overshadowed by his work; physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer, while a winner of a Nobel Prize and a devoted wife to her spouse, had deep chasms between her and her children and couldn't get a paying job. The last two women, architect Denise Scott Brown and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, benefited from feminism, but still faced significant obstacles.

[Cynthia Paschen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, Ugh. Maybe I was not in the mood for non-fiction, maybe I didn't like the writing style. Part of the problem is the language is quite dated. On the book jacket it promises a story of women before their time, I am woman hear me roar, and such. I think we are sort of beyond that.

If you want a really good biography, that is really well written, I would recommend "The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage," by Paul Elie. It is an intertwined biography of Catholics Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton and Walker Percy and it is amazing.

This one? not my cup of tea.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book on my shelves for years - the copyright is 1995. The 5 women featured are phenomenal in their fields, yet in their time, they were overshadowed by their more illustrious husbands. Milena Maric Einstein is now a well known mathematician and physicist, and there is currently a novel based on her life (in Einstein's shadows). Lee Krasner was the wife of Jackson Pollock. She was so self-critical of her art work that she destroyed much of it -- which I actually understand. I felt compelled to look up her style of art online in order to understand her story better. Maria Mayer's story leading to a Nobel prize in physics is also disheartening, though obviously a sign of her times. Denise Scott Brown is an architect who subjugated herself to her husband, but she was a brilliant urban designer and I found myself looking up many of their works, because imagining the buildings from the descriptions proved too difficult. And lastly, Sandra Day O'Connor - what a fascinating life, though she had the least resistance from her husband. This volume is very thoroughly researched and notes abound in the ending.

[Christina Zavos · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read the first part, about Mileva Marić, because I read The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict a few years ago. Although Benedict's book was a novel, I found it to be much less sensationalized than Gabor's. There were many times that Gabor made claims about events without using any of the sources she had available to her to back it up. And although she did show through records and letters that Albert was a weak, selfish person, I felt that Benedict did a far better job of chronologically laying out the events in the life of the early couple. Essentially, Gabor's nonfiction book read like a tabloid, Benedict's read like a real account.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating contrast of 5 incredibly successful women over the last century. The story of their lives and the management of their careers as well as their marriages was eye opening, but not surprising for anyone whose had to manage this themselves. Bottom line is it's not easy - and it takes the couple to make it work. The fact that several of these women did it "all" attests to their fortitude, not necessarily the commitment of their spouses.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like a series of five short biographies (all women), this is interesting reading. The lives of Maria Mayer, Lee Krasner, and Denise Scott Brown were new information for me. It's amazing how women know about other women!

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mileva Maric Einstein - Albert - Physics
Lee Krasner - Jackson Pollack - Painters
Maria Goeppert Mayer - Joe - Nuclear Physics
Denise Scott Brown - Robert Venturi - Architects
Sandra Day O'Connor - John - Lawyers

[Kathryn Donis · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me an unknown person who selflessly allowed her husband to get all the credit for their work. Excellent book.

[Julier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at development of women's roles in science and art and politics, always subservient to the husband, the many hurdles in the way of education, employment, pay, recognition, and being a wife and mother. MILEVA MARIC EINSTEIN never was given recognition for her part in Einstein's work, plus he ended up treating her so badly and disrespectfully. LEE KRASNER also put her husband Jackson Pollock's art and career to the forefront; her talent and influence were minimized; Pollock, an abusive alcoholic. MARIA GEOPPERT MAYER had a more successful marriage with Robert Oppenheimer, she the mathematician who collborated with her physicist husband; she immersed herself in her science and basically neglected her two children. DENISE SCOTT BROWN, urban planner, did incredible support work with her husband Bob Venturi, but didn't get the recognition she deserved; loving and supportive marriage, but still skewed. SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, first female US Supreme Court Justice, had a loving marriage and always put her husband and kids first, with her career and advancement taking second place; She did pretty well for herself, though--interesting to learn about her early life on a desert ranch.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

To tell the truth, I couldn't bring myself to finish this book. I slogged through almost to the end and then finally reached the chapter on Sandra Day O'Connor, which I'd been looking forward to reading, but my spirit was finally broken by the terrible, terrible writing, and I stopped. Here's a little sample: "To catch whatever breeze might cut the hot summer nights, the family slept out on the covered veranda, together with the ranch hands. Only a wire-mesh screen offered protection from the rattlesnakes, black widow spiders, and scorpions that rise up out of a desert night like mist from the sea." She tends to pick a few key words for each chapter and then repeat them as much as possible (key word for O'Connor's chapter was "eccentric"). There is some interesting content (the chapter on Lee Krasner is particularly worth a read) but it gets lost in the bad and underedited writing. She's very dramatic and persists in seeing tense gender-based struggle under every rock, no matter how tenuous her grasp of the rock itself. In short, I highly recommend the chapter on Lee Krasner but would give the rest a miss.

[Wren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gabor moves through history, describing the complex dynamics between husband and wife. She sets up the book to show a progression from oppression to equality and beyond. Even though I think that conditions are more favorable for women to achieve in the workplace, I recognize that Gabor is choosing examples that diminish the reality that many women still put their workplace achievements on the backburner in order to support the man in their life and their children. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the women described here.

[Mell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked off the "activist" shelf here because Gabor brilliantly illustrates the way that narrow gender norms about "wifely duties" limit(ed) the careers of genius-level women who just happened to be married to genius men in the same/similar fields of employment. Limited by everything from the glass ceiling (make that concrete in the early 1900's!) to expectations about childbirth and keeping the home, the women discussed in this book had various levels of professional success.

[sima · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's well written and interesting but depressing. The women highlighted in the book subsume, either willingly or sacrificially, their own ambitions for their husbands. In only one instance would I say it "worked out" for the lady, but that was happenstance; not an effect of her own efforts. The worst part is the profiles, although dated, are not anachronistic.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent insight into the wives of men who are/were geniuses, such as Einstein and Frank Lloyd Wright. The information about their relationships was fascinating and our book group had an extended discussion about genius personalities and what it takes to be in a relationship with these individual's.

Highly recommended -- it may be difficult to find, but well worth it if you do!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book to read to complement "Parallel Lives" --- since that book looks at Victorian marriages and relationships, and this book, in a somewhat similar manner, looks at some prominent twentieth century marriages.

[Tabatha · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent background and history of Mileva Maric, whom I find fascinating. Also, some very interesting history about Pollock's wife Lee, she was amazing. And justice Sandra Day is superhuman. A very good read about some very underrated women.

[Suellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I learned ... history doesn't always tell the whole story.

[Karen Hogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read the first 30 pages, but not for me