Riane Eisler
Riane Eisler’s story begins in Vienna, Austria, where as a small child she and her family had to flee from the Nazis. They emigrated to Cuba and eventually to the U.S. Riane has said that this trauma could have destroyed her, but instead, it led to her life-long quest to understand why horrible things like the Holocaust can happen – and what we can do so they do not happen again. Riane has become an eminent social scientist, attorney, author, and social activist. She is best known for her international bestseller The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future, now in 23 languages, including Chinese, Russian, Korean, Hebrew, Japanese, and Arabic.
Her newest book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics – hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking,” by Peter Senge as “desperately needed,” by Gloria Steinem as “revolutionary,” and by Jane Goodall as “a call to action” – proposes a new approach to economics that gives visibility and value to the most essential human work: the work of caring for people and nature. Riane emphasizes that specific actions can change one’s life and help one to see in a new way because all change begins with the individual. Her work gives people grounded hope that change is possible and that we are not doomed to despair and destruction. As Riane says, “caring pays - in dollars and cents.”
Riane has had a powerful response from very diverse groups around the world because her common theme of caring helps people “connect the dots.” She is sought after to keynote conferences worldwide, and is a consultant to business and government on applications of the partnership model introduced in her work. International venues have included Germany at the invitation of Prof. Rita Suessmuth,former President of the Bundestag (the German Parliament) and Daniel Goeudevert (Chair of Volkswagen International); Colombia, invited by the Mayor of Bogota; and the Czech Republic, invited by Vaclav Havel (President of the Czech Republic).
Her other books include the award-winning The Power of Partnership and Tomorrow’s Children, as well as Sacred Pleasure, a daring reexamination of sexuality and spirituality, and Women, Men, and the Global Quality of Life, which statistically documents the key role of the status of women in a nation’s general quality of life.
Riane holds degrees in sociology and law from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). She taught pioneering classes on women and the law at UCLA and is a founding member of the General Evolution Research Group (GERG), a fellow of the World Academy of Art.
and Science and World Business Academy, and a commissioner of the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality, along with the Dalai Lama and other spiritual leaders. She is also co-founder of the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence (SAIV), www.saiv.net. She is president of the Center for Partnership Studies, www.partnershipway.org, dedicated to research and education.
Her compassion for people has led her to pioneering work in human rights that has expanded the focus of international organizations to include the rights of women and children. Her research on systemic cultural transformation has impacted many fields, including history, sociology, economics, psychology, and education. She is the author of over 200 essays and articles in publications ranging from Behavioral Science, Futures, Political Psychology, and The UNESCO Courier to Brain and Mind, Yes!, the Human Rights Quarterly, The International Journal of Women's Studies, and the World Encyclopedia of Peace.
Riane has been honored with the Humanist Pioneer Award and the first Alice Paul ERA Award. She is the only woman among twenty great thinkers, including Hegel, Adam Smith, Marx, and Toynbee, selected for inclusion in Macrohistory and Macrohistorians in recognition of the lasting importance of her work as a cultural historian and evolutionary theorist.
A true believer in great partnerships, Riane has been happily married for 30 years to the eminent social psychologist and author David Loye. She travels frequently from her home in northern California to visit her children and grandchildren. She attributes her clear head and vibrant health to daily walks, to all the love in her life, and to the excitement of joining with others to build a better future.
Websites: www.partnershipway.org www.rianeeisler.com www.saiv.net