Riane Eisler Books

Nurturing Our Humanity presents a fresh perspective on personal and societal choices, emphasizing the potential for creating communities that foster our innate abilities for consciousness, caring, and creativity. It synthesizes largely overlooked insights from the natural and social sciences, challenging the notion that humans are inherently selfish and aggressive. This innovative approach links troubling phenomena, such as climate change denial and the rise of authoritarianism, while transcending traditional political and cultural divides. Instead, it examines societies along a partnership-domination continuum, where domination systems prioritize hierarchy—ranking individuals by gender, race, and their relationship with nature—while partnership systems promote peace, equality, and sustainability. The book analyzes how behaviors, values, and socio-economic structures differ in these environments, revealing their profound effects on brain development and cultural evolution. It highlights societies that have historically embraced partnership and suggests actions to support a contemporary shift toward more life-affirming practices. Amidst the challenges posed by fear-driven technologies and exploitation, it argues that a more equitable and sustainable existence is both biologically feasible and culturally achievable, urging a change in our trajectory.

Riane Eisler shows us how history has consistently promoted the link between sex and violence—and how we can sever this link and move to a politics of partnership rather than domination in all our relations.

The phenomenal bestseller, with more than 500,000 copies sold worldwide, now with a new epilogue from the author--The Chalice and the Blade has inspired a generation of women and men to envision a truly egalitarian society by exploring the legacy of the peaceful, goddess-worshipping cultures from our prehistoric past.

The Power of Partnership is filled with powerful examples and extensive research that shows how a simple shift in perspective can help us break free of domination’s shackles and discover the power and joy of partnership in every life relationship — and the book covers them all, including our relationship with ourselves, our loved ones, our co-workers, our community, our nation, and our world, as well as our relationship with nature and with spirit.The book is visionary yet practical, providing solutions that go beyond conservative or liberal, religious or secular, communist or capitalist, worker or employer, male or female. The Power of Partnership provides us with the necessary tools to make major changes in our lives, to break free of the old habits and patterns of domination with their tension, fear, and unhappiness, and to grow and thrive in partnership with all.

Social scientist Eisler shows that the great problems of our time--such as poverty, inequality, war, terrorism, and environmental degradation--are due largely to flawed economic systems that set the wrong priorities and misallocate resources. Conventional economic models fail to value and support the most essential human work--caring and caregiving--so basic human needs are increasingly neglected, despair and ecological destruction escalate, and the resulting social tensions fuel many of the conflicts we face today. Eisler offers a bold reformulation: a caring economics that transcends traditional categories like capitalist and socialist and offers enormous economic and social benefits. She describes how to put this model into practice through new government and business policies and practices, innovative economic indicators that incorporate caregiving activities, and new social structures. And she lays out practical steps we can take to move towards a society based on this more humane economic model.--From publisher description

Eisler exposes the economic double standard that devalues anything stereotypically associated with women and femininity, and shows how this distorts not only a society's values but individual's lives as well.

The narrative follows Riane Tennenhaus Eisler's remarkable journey from a Jewish refugee in Nazi-occupied Europe to a prominent figure in the American Women's Movement. After fleeing to Cuba and later emigrating to the U.S., she earned advanced degrees and became a professor at UCLA. Her influential works address critical issues such as no-fault divorce and the feminization of poverty, culminating in "The Equal Rights Handbook," which advocates for the Equal Rights Amendment as a fundamental issue of justice and equality.

Riane Eisler introduces a transformative economic model that emphasizes the importance of human and environmental contributions beyond traditional market values. By critiquing Adam Smith's narrow focus on market mechanisms, she argues that true wealth encompasses the essential work of caring for people and the planet. The book presents practical proposals for new measures and policies aimed at fostering a "caring economics" that addresses critical global challenges. Eisler's well-researched insights offer a hopeful vision for a more inclusive and sustainable economic future.

Riane Eislers Modell einer »Caring Economy« – einer »fürsorglichen Ökonomie« – ist ebenso kühn wie wegweisend und die Übersetzung ihres Ansatzes ins Deutsche längst überfällig. Eislers Buch, das erstmals 2007 unter dem Titel »The Real Wealth of Nations« in den USA veröffentlicht wurde und in zahlreiche Sprachen übersetzt ist, ist das Ergebnis einer jahrzehntelangen transdisziplinären Forschungsleistung. Es nimmt seinen Ausgang von der Frage, wie es sein kann, dass Menschen – trotz ihres kreativen Potenzials und ihrer Fähigkeit zur Empathie – in der Welt so viel Schaden anrichten. Schaden an sich selbst, anderen Menschen und der Umwelt. Eislers Antwort: An der Wurzel jeder Ökonomie, die Ungleichheit, Armut und Zerstörung produziert, ist eine Gesellschaft, die Frauen und die ihnen überantwortete Care-Arbeit abwertet. Jede progressive und nachhaltige Ökonomie, sei es eine Gemeinwohl- oder eine Postwachstumsökonomie, muss deswegen zuallererst diesen Bereich der Fürsorge für andere wieder in das ökonomische Denken hereinholen – sonst kann es keine Caring Economy geben. Eisler zeigt auf, wie ein solcher Wandel gesellschaftlich umsetzbar ist, auf politischer wie auf individueller Ebene.