From Eve to Dawn, a History of Women: A History of Women: The Masculine Mystique

The Masculine Mystique, the second volume of Marilyn French's monumental, readable, and unprecedented history of women, analyzes and evaluates the lives of women in societies around the world between feudal times and the French Revolution.

Drawing upon fifteen years of collaboration with a team of researchers and prominent historians, the volume opens with fascinating chapters comparing medieval Europe and Japan, disparate cultures which nevertheless shared traditions of male dominated aggression and competitiveness. French then shows how, in Europe, this tradition led to colonialism and imperialism, and the horrific subjugation of indigenous societies, just as women were subjugated in the conquerors' home countries. As French makes clear in this impassioned women's history, only with the French Revolution did the political force women exerted powerfully change the course of history.

Marilyn French (1929-2009) was born in New York. She received her PhD from Harvard and taught English at Hofstra, Harvard, and Holy Cross College. She is best known for her novels, The Women’s Room and In the Name of Friendship, and her non-fiction works, including Beyond Power, The War against Women and her memoir, A Season in Hell.

Margaret Atwood’s most popular works include The Handmaid’s Tale (1983) and The Blind Assassin (2000). She was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1939, and received her undergraduate degree from Victoria University, along with a master’s degree from Radcliffe College.