Reflection on A History of Women in the World Part 1: From Eve to Dawn by Marilyn French

               This book is the first in a series detailing the history of women and I found it to be pretty much average. I wanted to read it because I want to read more feminist literature and female authors, and while I will probably continue the series because I’m interested in the history of women, I found this first volume a little shallow and all-over-the-place. I learned some interesting things. For example, the “mothering instinct” is not instinctual at all- women learn the caretaking ability. While this isn’t really a fact, I liked her observation about democracy and the state, stating that, “Democracy developed in an attempt to curb the worst characteristics of the state.” I also learned that the celibacy of priests is not in the bible and only dates from the 10^th century. On the other hand, I found the book to be a little bit too “pop-history” for me and I think that the author is definitely implying scientific consensus on certain issues where there is actually much debate. She sometimes makes very big assertions without any citations and uses anecdotes at points in place of hard data.