I cannot recommend Gerda Lerner's book highly enough. And it's very timely. People the world over are organizing around important issues and coming to realize that we must work TOGETHER to effect real change. Read Why History Matters to learn exactly why all oppressed peoples must work AS ONE to transform a patriarchal world that will, if left unchallenged, self destruct.

I used Lerner's book to conclude my graduate seminar in U.S. Women's History in part because it makes such a compelling case for why, in this postmodern moment, history does matter. Lerner does not pull punches; her memories of the holocaust and her return to Austria years later remind us of the burden of history. At the same time she makes a compelling case for a writing of history that is scholarly and rigerous yet personal and political. I use parts of her book in both graduate and undergraduate courses to articulate to students why history still matters and why we are not free from the burden of history. The book provokes fascinating discussion and, in the end, reminds many of us as to why we studied history in the first place. In the end it inspires as well as challenges.

I am quite astonished that no one has commented on the importance of Dr. Lerner's book. I propose that it be read in tandem with any other book that shows the treatment of women. Books ranging from "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant,which takes place in the Biblical era all the way to Anna Quindlan's "Black and Blue," which relates to an abused wife today, begin to have even more signficance when one becomes familiar with Lerner's thesis: women have suffered from a patriarchal society since time began, and by understanding our history, we should begin to realize the power and influence that HALF the population of the world could wield. Lerner's book is surely academic, but it is worth reading. Imagine if ALL women really determined we should strive for peace, equality, freedom, etc. Lerner is a cautious optimist about the future, sensing that the women's movement does suggest a new paradigm for the future. I read Lerner's book two years ago and I find it relates to nearly every book I have read, fiction and non-fiction, since.

Compelling enough to keep me from ever thinking that I have it rough. As black women, we've endured sorrow and acheived greatness...all of which is found in this text. Black Women... gives an excellent account of the early history of African women in America.

This book does an excellent job of documenting the lives of African American women from slavery to the 20th century. It gives a portrayal of their strong abilities to move forward, their religious faith, and their degree of hope and self-pride in the meantime. I sincerely recommend this book to everyone in hopes that it will serve as a guide in their present lives.

This is an invaluable and concise introduction to the experiences of American women (across a class- but not a racial spectrum) as seen through their own testimony, from the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. Well-known pioneers (Harriet Beecher Stowe, Margaret Sanger) are represented as are unknown women. Though the emphasis is on nineteenth-century white women, their letters, articles, journal entries, and other writings resound with feelings and experiences from all aspects of life that offer much insight into the sources of our own dilemmas in the twenty-first century. Lerner's generous and incisive chapter introductions and her selection of sources is brilliant, and I intend to use this text in a college course focusing on issues in modern American women's history and literature. The entries are brief, for the most part, and lend themselves to the kind of sporadic pick-up "reading on the run," when you want something wonderful but only have a few minutes. However, Lerner's unifying commentary also makes the reading of larger chunks both possible and appropriate.

This book was required reading for my first Women Studies course in college on the history of the female race. It was a truly eye-opening book at the time (1982) - and continues to be a great resource. Gerda Lerner is an admired figure in the American women's movement. She did the public a tremendous service in producing this book. Recommended for any library.

An honest, courageous and illuminating account of a radical life. Also a reminder that our current troubles are not unique. Lerner's account of the persecution of members of the Communist Party USA during the 1950's, the abrogation of their civil rights and the threat to their livelihood should be a warning to us today.

Gerda Lerner, one of our most important historians, has written a magnificently honest and perceptive autobiography. She takes us through her youth in Vienna, her imprisonment by the Nazis, her escape to the United States where she married, raised children and built a new life, her years in Hollywood and New York, and her experiences as a radical during the McCarthy period. It is an engrossing, very human story that will touch and enlighten all who read it. We can only hope that Lerner will follow it with a volume that relates the story of her years as a historian who helped to create modern women's history.

While this book can be (and is) boring, and while the anger expressed within might be outdated, Lerner (who was writing in the 80s) does an excellent job of displaying some of the reasons WHY we continue to act as we do. Her discussion of the origins of marriage and female slavery were especially helpful.

This book is the perfect gift - for an historian studying the intellectual history of the Near East from a Feminist point of view. The "boring" part of it is valid only when applied to people outside of the target audience. I was assigned this book in a history class, and read it with great delight cover to cover. I can understand where other people are coming form, but if you have a feminist Mesopotamian intellectual historian, this is THE book.

I give it five stars, but only within it's microniche.

The Creation Of Patriarchy should be a textbook in all Universities, all over the world. Ms. Lerner is brilliant in her assessments of historical data!! I highly recommend this book to all MEN (especially Patriarchs, Machismos, Sexist, Racists, Conservatives, Fascists, and the rest of you who think biology is destiny...life is an ever changing force and we need to respect and change with the times!!

You Go Girl!

I read an earlier (1970-something?) publication of this work, and really enjoyed it. The sisters were presented as powerful thinkers who struggled with the issues of their day. The title is right on, they were pioneers for women's rights, as well as influential abolitionists. I'm glad that they were presented as whole people, with doubts and questions and problems, too.

It was an easy ready, but I didn't feel like the author was talking down to me. The book is highly recommended.

Lerner's collection of essays from the Grimke sisters helps to reveals some of the roots of the first wave feminist movement. The letter to Queen Vicotria is especially revealing in how the sisters felt morally tied to such royal blood. Overall the book does a great job of portraying the thoughts and even attitudes of leading feminists but does not offer a well-rounded perspective.