The first volume of the New York Times-bestselling author's
monumental and unprecedented history: "Consistently
thought-provoking" (The New York Review of Books).
The internationally
celebrated author of The Women's Room, Marilyn French spent
over fifteen years with a team of researchers and prominent
historians examining women's lives and activities in civilizations
and societies spanning the ages.
Beginning in
prehistory, Origins moves on to examine women's lives in ancient
Egypt, China, India, Peru, Mexico, Greece, and Rome. In her
reconstruction of wars, laws, and other activities affecting both
women and men, French also traces the worldviews underpinning them.
She also depicts how women's relationship to Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam changed for good and bad over the centuries.
"She backs up
even her more controversial theories with an impressive accumulation
of academically accepted historical, anthropological and sociological
sources . . . Written in concise, understated language, this is a
significant addition to literature on women's studies and history."
--Publishers Weekly