“It still would be years before I understood the seriousness of my change of view. Much later, I recognized it in "Revolution," the essay of Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski, who describes the moment when a man on the edge of a crowd looks back defiantly at a policeman — and when that policeman senses a sudden refusal to accept his defining gaze — as the imperceptible moment in which rebellion is born. "All books about all revolutions begin with a chapter that describes the decay of tottering authority or the misery and sufferings of the people," Kapuscinski writes. "They should begin with a psychological chapter — one that shows how a harassed, terrified man suddenly breaks his terror, stops being afraid. This unusual process — sometimes accomplished in an instant, like a shock — demands to be illustrated. Man gets rid of fear and feel free. Without that, there would be no revolution.”

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About Gloria Steinem

American journalist and social movement activist

Gloria Steinem is an American journalist and social movement activist who became a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She remained especially prominent in the 1980s and early 1990s. Her work is closely tied to feminism and broader social activism, and she is known for helping bring those issues into national public view. On this site, she has 267 quotes.

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Books by Gloria Steinem

Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions

1983

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Marilyn, Norma Jeane

1987

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My life on the road

2015

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Revolution from within

1992

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Moving Beyond Words: Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles

1995

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