The serpent and the goddess : women, religion, and power in Celtic Ireland

An interesting follow up to read after Gyn/Ecology by Mary Daly, this was originally published in 1989, but was reprinted due to popular demand (so much in demand that there is a comment in the Introduction as to how "all those who disappeared the twelve copies of the book from Dublin's Public

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Libraries can now make honest citizens of themselves and buy their own.

Her stress is on Ireland and the book goes from earliest times to modern with a look at how women's rights have changed over the years. She lays some of the blame in the lap of the catholic church but nicely also points out that society was drifting towards less women's rights anyway. She did study under Mary Daly so the links are there.

The book is divided into three sections, the Age of Eve, the Age of Brigit and the Age of Mary, showing the changing attitudes and inflections of the society of the times. It's interesting to see her track the progression of images of women over the ages and how those images reflected on how women were seen and saw themselves.

I prefered it over Gyn/Ecology, it lacked the man-hating aspects of Mary Daly's book, it also didn't lay the blame on one source but spread it out among many sources.

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