Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes

ISBN: 006288719X

Author: Lesser, Elizabeth

Condition: New

What story would Eve havetold about picking the apple? Why is Pandora blamed for opening the box? Andwhat about the fate of Cassandra who was blessed with knowing the future butcursed so that no one believed her? What if women had been the storytellers?Elizabeth Lesser believesthat if womens voices had been equally heard and respected throughout history,humankind would have followed different hero myths and guiding stories-storiesthat value caretaking, champion compassion, and elevate communication overvengeance and violence.Cassandra Speaks is about thestories we tell and how those stories become the culture. Its about thestories we still blindly cling to, and the ones that cling to us: the origin tales,the guiding myths, the religious parables, the literature and films and fairytales passed down through the centuries about women and men, power and war, sexand love, and the values we live by.Stories written mostly by men with lessons and laws for all of humanity.We have outgrown so many of them, and still they endure. This book is aboutwhat happens when women are the storytellers too-when we speak from ourauthentic voices, when we flex our values, when we become protagonists in thetales we tell about what it means to be human.Lesser has walked two mainpaths in her life-the spiritual path and the feminist one-paths that sometimescross but sometimes feel at cross-purposes. Cassandra Speaks is herextraordinary merging of the two. The bestselling author of Broken Open andMarrow, Lesser is a beloved spiritual writer, as well as a leading feministthinker. In this book she gives equal voice to the cool water of her meditativeself and the fire of her feminist self. With her trademark gifts of both humorand insight, she offers a vision that transcends the either/or ideologies onboth sides of the gender debate.Brilliantly structured intothree distinct parts, Part One explores how history is carried forward throughthe stories a culture tells and values, and what we can do to balance thescales. Part Two looks at women and power and expands what it means to becourageous, daring, and strong. And Part Three offers A Toolbox for InnerStrength. Lesser argues that change in the culture starts with inner change,and that no one-woman or man-is immune to the corrupting influence of power.She provides inner tools to help us be both strong-willed and kind-hearted.Cassandra Speaks is abeautifully balanced synthesis of storytelling, memoir, and culturalobservation. Women, men and all people will find themselves in the pages ofthis book, and will come away strengthened, opened, and ready to work togetherto create a better world for all people.