From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World, Volume II: The Masculine Mystique: From Feudalism to the French Revolution [Paperback]

Marilyn French (Author), Margaret Atwood (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: From Eve to Dawn | Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Analyzing feudalism in Europe and Japan and European expropriation of lands and peoples across the globe, Marilyn French poses a provocative question: how and why did women, with no power or independence, nourish and preserve the family unit and their own culture?

Marilyn French’s The Women’s Room crystallized the issues that ignited the women’s movement and was translated into twenty languages. She received her PhD from Harvard and taught English at Hofstra University, Harvard University, and Holy Cross College.

Internationally acclaimed author and critic Margaret Atwood is the author of numerous works of fiction, including The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This second of four volumes, moves quickly from feudalism to the French revolution. Firmly rooted in more modern history, novelist and scholar French (The Women's Room) writes less theoretically and more concretely than in volume 1. Beautifully sourced and referenced, the book shows, for instance, that in the 1400s Protestant and Catholic theologians transformed marriage from a private arrangement into a complex public ceremony that granted men more power. Women came to have less and less say in when and whom they would wed. Discussing the colonization of Africa, French illustrates how traditional, more egalitarian African gender roles were altered under European property-based, Christian social structures. French also begins to focus on how female sexuality was interpreted by a male-dominated culture. Marie Antoinette, for example, was convicted and executed not only for supporting her husband but for sexually corrupting the dauphin and thus the body politic. Filled with fascinating detail and powerful arguments, this second volume of French's massive and valuable work is an example of scholarship and clear vision. (May)
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Review

"...draws on a vast body of research and help from consultants in all sorts of fields, to open out areas that are rarely accessible... Above all, she recalls the depth and breadth of the war that has been waged on women down the centuries, the restrictions placed in so many times and so many places on their sexuality, their education, their freedom to travel, their voices" -- The Guardian. "As a reference work it's invaluable: the bibliographies alone are worth the price. And as a warning about the appalling extremes of human behavior and male weirdness, it's indispensable." -- Margaret Atwood, The Times (London). "Nowhere have I ever seen assembled such a quantity and diversity of material about women. Nowhere have I seen such material forged into a consistently readable, entertaining whole, unashamedly slanted in its sympathies towards women and definitely designed to instruct women of this and future generations." -- Clara Thomas, Books in Canada. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558615679
• ISBN-13: 978-1558615670
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #903,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but ultimately disappointing., June 4, 2009

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This review is from: From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World, Volume II: The Masculine Mystique: From Feudalism to the French Revolution (Paperback)

French's History of Women would be improved by a more formal writing style and a more meticulous sourcing of ideas. Her tone in this volume is often sarcastic; her writing style, a little informal. What she gains in readability, she loses in credibility. She would be better served by attributing strong ideas to their sources in the text of the writing wherever possible, and responding to the scholarly conversations of others. As it is, much of the book comes off as a rant. French leaves it up to the reader to chase down the references in the back of the book and to determine their relative place in the scholarship of women's history. A survey of the history of women ought to inform the reader of the most important voices in this area. To know whom to read, and to have a sense of context, is an important part of the reader's self-education process.