Synopses & Reviews
ForeWord Reviews Mothers Day Staff Pick: Books Mom Will Love”A valuable historical reference guide.” Publishers Weekly
This is a very ambitious and timely book, a book that many historians, literary theorists and story tellers who care about China and its Other Half of the Sky” want to write, but Brian Griffith did it first, with such scope, ease and fun.” WANG PING, author of The Last Communist Virgin and Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China
This book is a most engaging and entertaining read, and the depth of its scholarship is astounding. Griffith vividly describes the counterculture of Chinese goddesses, shows that their fascinating stories are alive and active today, and points us toward a more inclusive and caring partnership future.” RIANE EISLER, author of The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics and The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future
Touching on the whole story of Chinafrom Neolithic villages to a globalized Shanghaithis book ties mythology, archaeology, history, religion, folklore, literature, and journalism into a millennia-spanning story about how Chinese womenand their goddess traditionsfostered a counterculture that flourishes and grows stronger every day.
As Brian Griffith charts the stories of Chinas founding mothers, shamanesses, goddesses, and ordinary heroines, he also explores the largely untold story of womens contributions to cultural life in the worlds biggest society and provides inspiration for all global citizens.
Brian Griffith grew up in Texas, studied history at the University of Alberta, and now lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario. He is an independent historian who examines how cultural history influences our lives, and how collective experience offers insights for our future.
Review
To read through this compendium of female icons in the Chinese culture is to appreciate the ebb and flow of the changing Chinese environment across the thousands of years and especially to appreciate the role women have played in such a changing culture.” New York Journal of Books
Review
ForeWord Reviews Mothers Day Staff Pick: Books Mom Will Love”Written in a readable first person and presented in textbook format with chapter subheads, this catalogue of goddesses ranges from the dawn of creation and the half-snake goddess Nü Wa, to 20th century heroines such as Deng Yingchao, wife of Zhou Enlai. In addition to serving as a valuable historical reference guide, Griffiths study sheds light on the evolution of womens roles in Chinese society.” Publishers Weekly
To read through this compendium of female icons in the Chinese culture is to appreciate the ebb and flow of the changing Chinese environment across the thousands of years and especially to appreciate the role women have played in such a changing culture.” New York Journal of Books
Synopsis
The goddess tradition remakes China and the world.
Synopsis
ForeWord Reviews Mother's Day Staff Pick: "Books Mom Will Love" "A valuable historical reference guide." --Publishers Weekly
"This is a very ambitious and timely book, a book that many historians, literary theorists and story tellers who care about China and its "Other Half of the Sky" want to write, but Brian Griffith did it first, with such scope, ease and fun." --WANG PING, author of The Last Communist Virgin and Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China
"This book is a most engaging and entertaining read, and the depth of its scholarship is astounding. Griffith vividly describes the counterculture of Chinese goddesses, shows that their fascinating stories are alive and active today, and points us toward a more inclusive and caring partnership future." --RIANE EISLER, author of The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics and The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future
Touching on the whole story of China--from Neolithic villages to a globalized Shanghai--this book ties mythology, archaeology, history, religion, folklore, literature, and journalism into a millennia-spanning story about how Chinese women--and their goddess traditions--fostered a counterculture that flourishes and grows stronger every day.
As Brian Griffith charts the stories of China's founding mothers, shamanesses, goddesses, and ordinary heroines, he also explores the largely untold story of women's contributions to cultural life in the world's biggest society and provides inspiration for all global citizens.
Brian Griffith grew up in Texas, studied history at the University of Alberta, and now lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario. He is an independent historian who examines how cultural history influences our lives, and how collective experience offers insights for our future.
Synopsis
Touching on the whole story of China-from Neolithic villages to a globalized Shanghai-this book ties mythology, archaeology, history, religion, folklore, literature, and journalism into a millennia-spanning story about how Chinese women-and their goddess traditions-fostered a counterculture that flourishes and grows stronger every day.
As Brian Griffith charts the stories of China's founding mothers, shamanesses, goddesses, and ordinary heroines, he also explores the largely untold story of women's contributions to cultural life in the world's biggest society. Like Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky, this book provides inspiration for all global citizens.
Synopsis
Howard Zinn meets Joseph Campbell and Gloria Steinem in a book written for the omnivorous readeranyone curious about China, world mythology, and womens history. Touching on the whole story of Chinafrom Neolithic villages to a globalized Shanghaithis book ties mythology, archaeology, history, religion, folklore, literature, and journalism into one great, evolving story of how Chinese womenand the goddess traditionfostered a counterculture that flourishes and grows stronger every day.
As Brian Griffith charts the stories of Chinas founding mothers, shamanesses, goddesses, and ordinary heroines, he also explores the largely untold story of womens contributions to cultural life in the worlds biggest society. He presents their history as one of action, not, as it is so often, cheerleading for the powerful. These aren't just stories,” he says. These are expressions of what have been a peoples hopes, and a sign of what can be a future world.”
Impeccably researched, Griffiths enlightening, conversational history reveals the female-oriented world view that evolved within Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Chinese folk religion, and how that venerable counterculture is reshaping modern ideas about nature, power, equality, community, health, and spirituality.
Brian Griffith grew up in Texas, studied history at the University of Alberta, and now lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario. He is an independent historian who views historical research as a means to understanding how cultural history influences our lives and can point toward contemporary solutions for the worlds biggest problems.
About the Author
Brian Griffith, who grew up in Texas, studied history at the University of Alberta, and now lives just outside of Toronto, is an independent historian who sees research as a means to finding contemporary solutions for the worlds biggest problems. He has spent twenty five years patiently unraveling the truth behind the stories that make up our cultural historyfrom who tells them, what purposes they serve, and how they have evolved over timethrough his books The Gardens of Their Dreams: Desertification and Culture in World History, Different Visions of Love: The Partnership and Dominator Values in World History, Correcting Jesus: 2000 Years of Changing the Story, and The Fall and Rise of Chinese Goddesses(forthcoming in May 2012).