The Women's History of the World

The book is very well written, funny, thoughtful, intelligent, interesting and provocative. A good read. But there's more. This book should (but, of course, never will) be placed in the hands of every student by every history teacher in every post-elementary school in this country, so both girls and boys can get at least a tiny glimpse of the other side of human "his"tory. Further, any adult with the courage to pick it up and read it through should - after they stop chuckling and recover from their anger - buy a copy for every female they love. Buy one for the boys too, but don't count on them reading it. Until humans understand that every race and both sexes made significant contributions to human "his"tory, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of our various patriarchies until we all drown in testosterone and die. OK, I feel better now.

I first read this book many years ago - under a different title - and I was delighted to come upon it again as it had fascinated, angered and inspired me the first time around. Its impact is still intense several years later - it's amazing how different history - or herstory - looks when the half of the population that's been denigrated and ignored is taken into account.This book explores women's role in life and work from the beginning of recorded time all the way up to the present. Who knew that for 25,000 years - up until about 2,000 years ago - that every known society worshiped an all powerful goddess? I certainly didn't. Miles explodes the myths of 'man's' evolution and carefully examines the ways in which woman's position altered throughout different eras. While she uses 'famous' women as references, she's careful to point out that these stories only represent a fraction of what women were actually doing, and what they were doing is generally very different from how it's typically portrayed.One criticism I've heard about the book - but do not share - is its simplistic view, that it comes from a particular position with particular assumptions and goes on from there. To me, this book is merely one perspective on history that uses a completely different model of interpretation. Basically, while it's a terrific book, it's still just one book tackling a subject - the history of the world - about which thousands upon thousands have been written. I've found this to be a thoroughly delightful and rewarding read, as it taught me that to say that women and their experiences are typically not included in the standard version of history is not an overstatement - I learned so much that I feel I should've known already. However frustrated I became at how horribly women were treated and the intense, deeply held prejudices against them, I was thrilled to be seeing history in a new way. I think that everyone should read this book, and now that I've found it again, I'm going to start with the people I know... I simply could not give it a better review.

As a Professor of Women's Studies, I found this book to be a delightfully refreshing change of pace from conventional feminist theory material. While Miles grounds her assumptions in theoretical criticism, she avoids becoming too mired in rhetorical jargon. Much like Gerda Lerner's volume on "The Rise of Patriarchy," Miles chronicles the assumptions, ideas, and concepts which have allowed women to be overlooked, ignored, and sometimes patly rejected throughout history; however, her writing is much more accessible than Lerner, and students (and general readers) will enjoy her sparks of sometimes cynical humor, which allows her to explore a subject which she acknoledges is quite serious, and about which she feels passionately.

Excellent, succinct summary of what's missing from everything we learned about history: half of it is missing. This book packs a punch exactly where it's needed: in the androcentric view of history. It unleashes the millions of voices silenced for so long, for too long. It makes you think, woman or man, about how fifty percent of the world's population could be regarded as so insignificant as to have so little recognition of it's past existence. Compelling and challenging. Put's fire in the "sideline" feminists' day. Read it, you won't look at history the same again. You will ask..." Where is the rest of the story ?"

Rosalind Miles' book, Women's History of the World, is a vitalizing effort that does what so few things in our world do -- it makes a woman proud of the accomplishments of her gender. From the nurturing of humanity into a sentient species to the bravest accomplishments of women throughout time, it is an inspiration to find out that women haven't recently burst forth into the arena of accomplishment, but have been there all along, doing what needed doing without requiring notoriety. Their deeds now have the credit due them! Perhaps the only drawback to the entire book is the occassional, sometimes graphic account of an attrocity commited against a particular woman. It's important to keep in mind that women have suffered at the hands of men (and other women) because of their long status as second-class citizens, but I don't think the reader needs quite as much reminder as the book gives. The nice thing is, you can skim past it and go to the next item. It's heartening to have this history of women's accomplishments available. It makes it easier to move on, look to the future and try to make it a better one for our daughters and sons, where we can live in partnership.