There is an Indian proverb that says that old age begins when memory is stronger than hope. At 85 years old, the sociologist and writer born in Vienna (Austria) Riane Eisler He seems to be in the most lucid moments of his youth. Kind, clear, vehement, the author of The chalice and the sword. From goddesses to gods: pre-patriarchal cultures talks about the urgency of changing the violent and sexist world in which we live for an inclusive, just and peaceful one. The new edition of his book, which was published this Monday in Spain by the publishing house Captain Swing, shows that there is sufficient scientific evidence to understand how, for thousands of years, humanity lived without oppressive relations between sexes or classes, in societies of cooperation and collaboration. The book, considered by several anthropologists as one of the most important since The origin of species, by Charles Darwin, is a journey through the art, religion and way of life of prehistoric societies that reveals the characteristics of a long period of peace and prosperity in which humanity advanced without the need for patriarchal domination. Today, 34 years after its first edition in 1987 and in the midst of a pandemic that has exposed economic inequalities and violence against women and children, reading this classic of the theory of human evolution is more necessary than ever. .
