The Creation of Patriarchy

This book is the perfect gift - for an historian studying the intellectual history of the ancient Near East from a Feminist point of view. The "boring" part of it is valid only when applied to people outside of the target audience. I was assigned this book in a history class, and read it with great delight cover to cover. I can understand where other people are coming form, but if you have a feminist Mesopotamian intellectual historian, this is THE book. I give it five stars, but only within it's microniche.

The Creation Of Patriarchy should be a textbook in all Universities, all over the world. Ms. Lerner is brilliant in her assessments of historical data!! I highly recommend this book to all MEN (especially Patriarchs, Machismos, Sexist, Racists, Conservatives, Fascists, and the rest of you who think biology is destiny...life is an ever changing force and we need to respect and change with the times!!You Go Girl!

I thought this book was wonderful because it brings up many topics that get your brain thinking in totally different ways. I am currently doing a research paper on the possiblities of Mother Goddess worship in ancient times and this book has been very helpful. What makes this book different from a lot that I have read on the subject is that she shows many different sides to the topics she brings up. This is great because most of the subject is subjective anyway. The book is also very easy to read and follow. It's a great read!

While I completely agree with the other review listed, I just wanted to give a few words of warning. This book is long and quite frankly, boring. While Learner brings up some very interesting ideas about the transition of society from matriarchy to patriachy, and is a decent writer, she is only truly brilliant and inspirational occasionally. I do recommend this book for research purposes and it has a fabulous bibliography for making research easier.

Highly recommended to anyone with the slightest interest in history or women's studies. This book could change the way you look at life! Gerda Lerner tracks the oppression of women from over millions of years ago and shows how a biological difference between the genders turned into a cultural difference. Read this book!!!!