Gerda Lerner

Em A Cria o da Consci ncia Feminista, o aguardado volume final de sua obra-prima, Women and History, iniciada com o cl ssico A Cria o do Patriarcado, a autora documenta a luta feminina para libertar a mente do pensamento patriarcal, criar a Hist ria das Mulheres e mostrar as origens da consci ncia feminista. Por meio de uma narrativa ricamente documentada e repleta de perfis de mulheres inspiradoras, entre elas, Hildegarda de Bingen, Juliana de Norwich e Emily Dickinson, a autora refaz um percurso que vai desde a Idade M dia at o fim do s culo XIX, investigando diversos caminhos trilhados por mulheres marcantes, que se esfor aram para conseguir autonomia e igualdade. Lerner faz tamb m um fundamental estudo de mais de 1.200 anos de cr tica b blica feminista, destacando um insight certeiro: a descontinuidade da Hist ria das Mulheres. A obra apresenta s mulheres, e a todos os interessados, uma hist ria da humanidade mais equitativa e igualit ria, al m de minimizar o apagamento de figuras hist ricas importantes pelo simples fato de serem mulheres.

Wien in den 20er Jahren. Gerda Kronstein wächst als Tochter einer Künstlerin und eines Apothekers in der höheren Wiener Gesellschaft auf, umgeben von Kindermädchen, Salons und Kammermusik. Schon als Kind und Jugendliche fällt sie durch ihre rebellische Art auf, die sie später in politische Aktivität umwandelt: Nie ein Blatt vor dem Mund und von der marxistischen Idee beeindruckt, bietet die junge Autorin den damals vorherrschenden Verhältnissen die Stirn. ?Fireweed? erzählt mitreißend die Entwicklung der renommierten Historikerin, die Anfänge und die prägenden Erlebnisse vor den und zu Zeiten des Nationalsozialismus in Wien sowie die Zeit nach ihrer Emigration in die USA. Mit viel Selbstironie und Witz setzt sich Gerda Lerner mit ihrem Werdegang auseinander, mit der gescheiterten ersten Ehe, mit der glücklichen zweiten, mit ihrer Rolle als Hausmutter bis hin zur eher ?späten? Berufung zu einer der weltbekanntesten Vertreterin der Frauengeschichte.

A beautifully written, dramatic memoir from one of women's history's founders

A beautifully written, dramatic memoir from one of women's history's founders

When precisely did the ideas, symbols and metaphors of patriarchy take hold of Western civilization? When were women, so central to the creation of society, moved on to the sidelines? Where is the evidence to support the notion that male dominance over women is a natural state of things? Gerda Lerner's radical review of Western civilization shows that male dominance over women has nothing to do with biology, and everything to do with cultural and historical habits. Dr Lerner draws her evidence from a host of archaeological, literary, and artistic sources, using them to pinpoint the critical turning points in the allocation of women's roles in society. She draws especially on archaeological evidence of the cultures of ancient Hebrew and Mesopotamian societies, cultures from which modern Western civilization has largely derived. This approach enables her to trace the ways in which men and women have been classified as essentially separate creatures - from ancient Greek philosophy onwards - and also to examine ways in which their experience of society differs, through the structures and symbols of class and religion. Most of all, by showing patriarchy as the result of an historical process, Lerner produces an irresistable argument that it can be altered, and ended, by similar means.