Product Description

An epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression. Reprint.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32566 in Books
• Published on: 1994-06-01
• Released on: 1994-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553373806
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
In her sometimes clumsy but compelling first novel, the author of The Spiral Dance (a central work in the women's spirituality movement) considers two possible futures for America. In ecologically devastated mid-21st-century California, San Francisco is a precariously maintained oasis, its society based on egalitarianism and environmentalism, its deeply spiritual populace possessed of psychic and mystical powers. Drought-plagued southern California suffers under an oppressive, militaristic, technocratic regime that spouts a perverted Christian ideology. After 20 years of uneasy peace, the south's armies mass to invade the north, whose militantly nonviolent denizens must decide how to defend themselves without compromising their pacifism. Starhawk delivers her message with a heavy hand and several cliches: her besieged utopia echoes the liberal politics and ecofeminism of her nonfiction; her dystopia features the overused SF bugbear of Christian fanaticism. However, she creates memorable characters--a young midwife, a broken musician, an old Witch-Woman--and skillfully conveys their emotions in gripping, sometimes harrowing scenes set against vivid backdrops. Though the resolution is somewhat pat--and an obvious plug for Starhawk's philosophy--the story is moving and absorbing.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Known for her works in women's spirituality and ecofeminism, Starhawk has conjured a visionary tale of a multicultural community of witches where poverty, prejudice, hunger, and thirst do not prevail. The surrounding world, set in present-day San Francisco, manifests every 20th-century nightmare: ozone depletion, deadly pollution, a fundamentalist religion-based government, and food and water shortages. The central question haunting a community of well-cast characters is how to resist invading Southern forces without resorting to violence. This strong debut fits well among feminist futuristic, utopic, and dystopic works by the likes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ursula LeGuin, and Margaret Atwood. Starhawk is the author of The Spiral Dance ( LJ 11/1/79), Dreaming the Dark ( LJ 9/15/82), and Truth or Dare (HarperSanFrancisco, 1989). Recomended for literary collections.
- Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
This first novel from Starhawk (Dreaming the Dark, 1982, etc.) is a big, shaggy, sloppy dog of a fantasy about a great war taking place during the 21st century: A city of eco-feminist witches must stand up to the violence of an army bred on a repressive Christian ideology that justifies the greed of a corporate cabal of rich white men. As the story opens, Maya, a 99-year-old writer of tales about witchcraft, climbs a steep San Francisco hill and surveys a kind of reclaimed paradise: The streets have been torn up, and organic gardens bloom everywhere. Since a great ``uprising'' some years before, the city has become a kind of pagan theocracy, run by guilds and councils of eco-feminist witches who have made it a green spot in the surrounding desert. The rest of the country is ruled by the ``Stewards''--a ruthless corporate power that justifies inhuman exploitation under the banner of the ``Millennialists,'' a fundamentalist sect that is not above breeding whores and soldiers in ``pens.'' Maya is witness to a battle that kills--or tests--many of her loved ones. First, her grandson Bird returns after ten years in a prison in the ``Southland.'' While he was away, the Stewards/Millennialists have sent an engineered virus to San Francisco that killed a good many of the population. Madrone, the grandchild of Maya's woman lover and male compa¤ero (almost every witch is bisexual), is a gifted healer, so she is sent to the dangerous Southland to teach the rebel ``Web'' to heal themselves and to bring back specimens of the virus. Madrone returns after many narrow escapes to find the city occupied by the ruthless army of the Stewards--forcing the witches to put to the ultimate test their commitment to nonviolence. Starhawk deserves points for her idealism, but her vision and characterizations are only half-realized here--and further muddied as she goes on far, far too long. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Gandhi would have loved Starhawk
I love this book. I didn't like it at first, but I decided to give it an hour before I made up my mind. Now I am really glad I stuck with it, because it is one of the richest, most thought-provoking books I have ever read.

One of the greatest questions is - how do people resist the violent advances of others without becoming violent themselves? We can look to others for inspiration - HH the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, MLK - there have been a few who have managed to hold on to their ideals despite the crimes inflicted upon them. But how do we do this ourselves? How do we maintain peace within ourselves?

This book discusses these issues on a societal level, but the wisdom you will gain can be applied on a personal level. You will likely find yourself rethinking how you view numerous things - from illness to monogamy.

And the story is interesting and creative, with characters you will come to care about. This is a fantastic book. Go ahead and give it some time - you will probably love it, too!

Engaging story of eco-utopia against fascist state
I, too had this book on my shelf for several years before I actually read it. Although it obviously sounded good enough at the time I bought it, I feared that it would be preachy and overbearing. It was nothing of the sort. The characters are complex; flawed at times, saintly at others. The story is compelling, combining plots about the personal growth of the various characters, adventure stories as Bird escapes from prison and Madrone ventures into the southern wilds to help the freedom fighters, and the ultimate show down between the San Franciscans and the Stewards. It is a bit simplistic, perhaps, but that didn't stop me from wishing things in reality were more like they are in Maya and Madrone's world. The attempts to portray this world as one free of any racial or sexual bigotry do get a bit heavy handed at times, but never so much that it interfered with my enjoyment of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone, and in fact immediately after I finished ran out and bought a copy to give as a gift this Christmas.

Thought-provoking, beautiful, sensual
I was initially a little wary of this book -- I was afraid that it might just be cheesy New Age nonsense. But I was wrong. I TOTALLY ENJOYED IT! I didn't want it to end! It describes 2 possible paths US society might take : one of domination and violence, the other of equality and respect. I liked that even in the ideal world there are conflicts of interest and arguments, but people are committed to working through them and talking them out. So nothing's "too" perfect; rather, it is a possible world, truly something that we can believe in and work toward. Wonderful, spirit-moving, thought-provoking work. Heightened my sensory experience of the world and made me appreciate everything around us.