Me

This is a self-portrait of the kind of rebel who flourished in Greenwich Village at the height of its bohemianism. Brenda Ueland came from a happy home in Minnesota where her father, an immigrant laborer from Norway, had struggled his way to becoming a lawyer and her native-born mother, a leader in the state's progressive movement. Despite the good spirit among the seven children, Brenda felt from early youth a contention of "fierce and gentle" forces within herself. She came to New York, studying at Barnard and Columbia, and living in the Village. She wrote a bit, fell in love with a married man, married him after his divorce, and later divorced him and raised their child alone. Her book is warm with pictures of Minnesota life, bohemian friendships and a touching love affair with the aging explorer, Fridtjof Nansen.