Levine, Suzanne Braun 1941–

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Levine, Suzanne Braun 1941–

PERSONAL: Born June 21, 1941, in New York, NY; daughter of Imre and Esther (Bernson) Braun; married Robert F. Levin (a lawyer), April 2, 1967; children: Joshua, Joanna. Education: Radcliffe College, B.A. (with honors), 1963.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Viking Publicity, Penguin Group, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Seattle (magazine), Seattle, WA, reporter, 1963–65; Time-Life Books, New York, NY, researcher and reporter, 1965–67; Mademoiselle (magazine), New York, NY, features editor, 1967–68; McCall's (magazine), New York, NY, features editor, 1968–69; freelance writer, 1970; Sexual Behavior (magazine), managing editor, 1971–72; Ms. (magazine), New York, NY, managing editor, 1972–88; Columbia Journalism Review, New York, NY, editor-in-chief, 1989–97; More (magazine), Des Moines, IA, contributing editor.

Executive producer of television documentary She's Nobody's Baby: A History of American Women in the 20th Century, HBO, 1981, and television special Ms., HBO, 1981. Organizer of "American Families" lecture series for Chautauqua Institution. Visiting journalism professor at universities, including Columbia University. Board member, Ms. Foundation for Education and Communication and the Transition Network; fellow, Media Studies Center Freedom Forum, 1989–90.

MEMBER: American Society of Magazine Editors (vice president), Women's Media Group, American Association of Retired Person's Women's Leadership Circle.

AWARDS, HONORS: Peabody Award, c. 1982, for television documentary She's Nobody's Baby.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Harriet Lyons, Joanne Edgar, Ellen Sweet, and Mary Thom) The Decade of Women: A Ms. History of the Seventies in Words and Pictures, introduction by Gloria Steinem, Putnam (New York, NY), 1980.

(Editor) Susan Dworkin, She's Nobody's Baby: A History of American Women in the Twentieth Century, introduction by Alan Alda and Marlo Thomas, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1983.

Father Courage: What Happens When Men Put Family First, Harcourt (New York, NY), 2000.

Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood, Viking (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to Sisterhood Is Forever, edited by Robin Morgan, Atria Books. Contributor to periodicals, including O, TV Guide, Newsweek, and Nation.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A biography on Bella Abzug, with Mary Thom, for Farrar, Straus & Giroux; writing Second Adulthood Newsletter.

SIDELIGHTS: Well known for her role as founding editor of the feminist magazine Ms., which she headed from 1972 to 1988, Suzanne Braun Levine has more recently written books that address the issues of America's changing family and career situations. In Father Courage: What Happens When Men Put Family First she explains the limitations of an American society that creates barriers for working men who wish to lead more active roles as fathers. Although progress has been made in the workplace to allow women professionals to have maternity leave or take time off to be with their children, the same consideration is typically denied men. The trend in modern American families, however, is for both parents to seek a better balance between their work and family lives.

As an Economist contributor noted in a review of Father Courage, recent surveys show that "men and women agree that the care of children should be shared equally by both parents…. Some of the issues fac-ing these (inevitably working) men will be the same as those that faced women, thirty or more years ago, when they set out to redress what they saw as unacceptable gender imbalances." In addition to the challenges of overcoming workplace issues, men will also need to ride out social prejudices in America that still see the role of men as being that of the bread winners, not the caretakers, for their families. "Levine provides a useful sourcebook for would-be revolutionaries and makes an eloquent plea for more public conversation about private pressures," noted a Publishers Weekly critic. Antoinette Brinkman, writing in Library Journal, concluded that Father Courage is "a solid contribution to the family values debate from a feminist perspective."

Levine's Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood explains how, with increasing life expectancies, American women are starting to reevaluate their lives in their fifties. This is often with the result that they drop their current careers to seek more fulfilling jobs and lives. Calling this phase the "second adulthood," Levine points to new research that suggests people's brains actually undergo a second growth spurt in their fifties. This, combined with their extensive life experiences, makes women even more valuable contributors to society in their early golden years. Levine blends her factual arguments with what People reviewer Debby Waldman called "inspiring" anecdotes that illustrate the book's key points. In contrast, a Kirkus Reviews critic felt that Levine's material offers nothing "really new," and a Publishers Weekly contributor observed that women "who are financially comfortable" are the primary targets of Levine's advice. Nevertheless, the Kirkus Reviews writer concluded that Levine compiles her information "in an especially easy-to-take, down-to-earth, yet uplifting way."