Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice [Paperback]

Jack Holland (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786718234 | ISBN-13: 978-0786718238 | Publication Date: August 18, 2006

In this compelling, powerful book, the late Irish journalist and essayist Jack Holland set out to answer a daunting question: how do you explain the oppression and brutalization of half the world's population by the other half, throughout history? The result is an eye-opening journey through centuries, continents and civilizations as it looks at both historical and contemporary attitudes to women. Misogyny encompasses the Church, witch hunts, sexual theory, Nazism, pro-life campaigners, and finally, today's developing world, where women are increasingly and disproportionately at risk because of radicalized religious beliefs, famine, war, and disease. Extensively researched, highly readable and provocative, this book chronicles an ancient, pervasive and enduring injustice. The questions it poses deal with the fundamentals of human existence — sex, love, violence — that have shaped the lives of humans throughout history, and ultimately limn an abuse of human rights on a nearly unthinkable scale.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jack Holland was a highly respected author and journalist known particuarly for his commentary about Northern Irish politics. He grew up in Belfast (where he was taught by Seamus Heaney) and worked with Jeremy Paxman and other outstanding journalists at BBC Belfast during a period of seminal current affairs programming. Jack published four novels and seven works of non-fiction, most of the latter having to do with politics and terrorism in Northern Ireland, including the bestselling Phoenix. Sadly, Jack died of cancer in 2004, just after the manuscript of Misogyny had been delivered and accepted by his US publisher. On his death, his family received letters of respect from politicians including Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, who had come to rely on his balanced analysis of Irish politics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (August 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786718234
• ISBN-13: 978-0786718238
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #374,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My name is Jenny Holland, and I'm writing this to help get the word out about my late father's last book, "Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice."

My father was Jack Holland, a well-known Irish author and journalist. He died in May 2004 shortly after completing the book.

My father was from Belfast, Northern Ireland but spent much of his adult life in New York and Italy.

He wrote mostly on the violence and political strife that plagued his native Northern Ireland, and became a trusted voice amid the mayhem.

Among his books on the topic were the acclaimed "Hope Against History: The Course of the Conflict in Northern Ireland" (Henry Holt, 1999) and "Phoenix: Policing the Shadows" (co-author Susan Phoenix, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996)

For years he wrote a beloved column for the New York-based Irish Echo, writing about everything from the old railway lines that used to criss-cross Ireland to the tangled peace process back in Belfast.

In 2002 he turned his journalists eye to another torturous subject: misogyny. The end result is a gem of a book, a page-turner that is suprisingly easy to read, considering its sometimes brutal subject matter, and truly enlightening.

The book has been published posthumously by Carrol & Graf. I urge everyone who has ever thought about how men and women treat each other to buy it, read it, and pass the word on!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book for all women and all men, November 3, 2006

By 

Dory Green (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice (Paperback)

Misogyny is a remarkable book, melding ancient philosophy, religion, sociology, literature, art, and politics. It was written by an Irish journalist who cared deeply about women, and it seamlessly brings together the elements and causes of the omnipresent patriarchal control of women by men over thousands of years throughout the world.

The relatively modest advancements for women in developed countries in recent decades are little cause for rejoicing when hundreds of millions of women and girls continue to suffer the most horrendous treatment: rape, child sexual slavery, and physical abuse; genital mutilation; forced marriage, child-bearing, and/or late-term abortion; lack of effective, affordable contraception; infanticide of unwanted female babies; exposure to HIV/AIDS from straying husbands and partners; poorer health and shortened life span; lack of education and control of family finances; public humiliation and even violent death for flouting male cultural demands including unreasonable clothing requirements; loss of hope and opportunities on all levels.

Present-day political and religious leaders do little to help the cause of women and girls. Jack Holland lays it all out from Aristotle to Darfur, from Plato to Hitler, from the past to the present and into the uncertain future. This is a book that finally exposes the inception of the domination and maltreatment of one gender by the other through the ages. It is a gem and ought to be required reading in all high schools and colleges AND for all legislators.

Our conduct toward others defines our characters. Men, take note. And for women who ignore the history of the fight for women's rights, those rights are fragile and fleeting, and your callous ignorance is dangerous to you and to those you love . Your rights, and those of your mothers, your sisters, and your daughters will always be in peril. Know this and take action. Begin by reading Jack Holland's incisive book.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Misogyny, November 8, 2006

By 

Dana Stabenow (Alaska) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice (Paperback)

I'm as surprised to report as I'm sure you are to read that this book is neither the downer nor the inciter to riot I was expecting. It's the history of the world's oldest and most determined prejudice written with clarity and humor, beginning with Pandora and ending with the Taliban. There are discoveries -- Did you know that the main reason Menelaus fought so hard to get Helen back was that he married her because she was his claim to his kingship? Face that launched a thousand ships, indeed. Did you know that in contemporary accounts it was rumored that Brutus was Julius Ceasar's bastard son? That explains a lot. St. Paul's remarks in Romans amount to "a declaration of war on the human body," and the marquis de Sade's fictional Juliette is "a sort of Tyrannosaurus Sex." The chapters on witch burning and the Holocaust are pretty horrifying, but then so were the events, and Holland's prose is so good it pulls you through to a conclusion not lacking in hope for a better future.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So, maybe I'm just *old*., July 15, 2008

By 

Seven Kitties "7kitties" (Blue Point, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice (Paperback)

This book didn't exactly rock my world. In full disclosure, I am a feminist (meaning, I don't think anyone's better or worse than anyone else based on what's between their legs), and have been reading feminist books and theory for a long time. The reviews of this book made me think, maybe, a REALLY long time. It was a very readable (I hesitate to say 'enjoyable') study over the long span of human history about the institutional and cultural biases against women. Holland is right: it's outrageous that 51% of the human race has been discriminated against for all of written history, but there's been no major outrage. It's accepted as 'common sense'. Just think of your reaction to me stating I was a feminist. I'm sure someone reading this review conjured an image of a hairy legged flannel shirt wearing manhater. Why? Because 'we all know' that women who complain are weird.

Holland's honestly at his best with the more modern events. He mumbles some facts--all crusaders were male (ummm, Eleanor of Aquitaine?) he says. Also, he seems to think Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for witchcraft. She was sentenced, actually, for the 'crime' of refusing to wear women's 'proper' clothing. I could go on, but you get the idea. Little squibs that detracted from my enjoyment of his historical broad view, but nothing that would directly contradict or nullify his claims (the Joan of Arc thing would have actually *strengthened* his point). But, it's a huge task to cram the whole of history into under 300 pages, so we'll cut him a break.

The reason this isn't five stars for me is that really, there's nothing NEW here. If you've read _History of Women_ or _History of Their Own_ or _Chalice and the Blade_, etc, there's really not much that's going to make paradigms shift. If you've read current feminists like Faludi or Kilbourne's work on advertising, again, nothing particularly new. So, if you read feminist books as a hobby, most of this book might be...unsatisfying. If you're new to the stuff, this is as good an introduction as I can think of. And his coverage of recent history, ranging from the Taliban to abortion clinics in the US, is quite good. It's useful for bringing together between two covers the 'cliff's notes' of historical feminism.

If you would like to have your thoughts stirred up more, in the same 'grand overview of history' scheme Leonard Shlain's _Alphabet Versus the Goddess_ is my pick.