The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

Argues that there was a prehistoric shift in human society to patriarchy and at present society is beginning to shift away from patriarchy

Women played leading roles in the first Christian communities; Jesus' teachings had a feminist bent; ancient Hebrews worshipped the prehistoric goddess-mother well into monarchic times; and Nazis, with their system of male dominance, were a direct throwback to the Indo-European or Aryan invaders whom they crudely imitated. These controversial ideas and findings suggest the thrust of Eisler's highly readable synthesis. She convincingly documents the global shift from egalitarian to patriarchal societies, interweaving new archeological evidence and feminist scholarship. In her scenario, as womenonce veneratedwere degraded to pawns controlled by men, social cooperation gave way to reliance on violence, hierarchy and authoritarianism. The book, despite its jargon, is an important contribution to social history. Eisler wrote The Equal Rights Handbook.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this first of a projected three-book series, Eisler covers terrain also described by Marilyn French in Beyond Power ( LJ 6/1/85) and Gerda Lerner in The Creation of Patriarchy ( LJ 7/86). In prehistorical times, Eisler argues, women and men lived together in egalitarian communities devoted to nurturance; with the imposition of male domination, female values gave way to creeds of hierarchy, aggression, power, obedience. Eisler, a futurist, posits a new society based on the recovery of more humane values. She gives us a broader reach of time than Lerner, and she does not swamp her outline in detail as French did. An imaginative and persuasive work, Eisler's effort is undermined by jargon; her view of the future is exceedingly optimistic. For a select audience. Cynthia Harrison, American Historical Assn., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.