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If you know the name Emily W. Sunstein at all, it's most likely because you've read her award-winning and incredibly influential biographies of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter, Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. Both were beloved and very well-received upon publication: Of her 1989 book Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, The New York Times wrote, "As biographers of women, we must, as Ms. Sunstein has done, ignore old reputations and, by means of our revisionary work, become the belated daughters of mothers long dead and long betrayed by history."
Today, Sunstein again gets a mention in The New York Times -- in her obituary, in which it mentions that the 82-year-old revered biographer and literary critic was, in fact, born on April 28, 1924, in Dallas as Emily Weisberg and that she lived here till she went to Vassar College. Indeed, her Texas roots were on display in The Times, again in '89, when she reviewed Ann Richards' autobiography. Sunstein died Saturday in Philadelphia, where she had lived most of her life as a revered and influential political reformer. --Robert Wilonsky
Keep the Dallas Observer Free... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Dallas with no paywalls.
