"Women have been the matriarchy. They have dominated men, religion and society. Women have been subservient. They have catered to the patriarchal religion and society. Today, women are again outside the home and making a place for themselves in the world. As women gain status and power in American society, does America run the risk of someday becoming matriarchal with the matriarchs utilizing the same methods of the patriarchy that they so long abhorred? Does the slow but steady cycle of gender dominance continue with its inherent power games of control and manipulation? It is at this point that the metaphorical question can be addressed: Is the cup half empty or is the cup half full?"

K-lee Starland's Changing the Rules is a monumental survey of the changing role and status of women in western society from antiquity down to present-day America. It is suitable to the general reader and as a college-level textbook in Women's Studies, Sociology, and History departments.

Changing the Rules traces how women once ruled in the matriarchal Cradle of Civilization, how this position was gradually eroded in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures, and how western women have been reemerging from their multi-millennial suppression. It concludes with the mapping out of future balance based on peaceful cooperation, rather than societies of male or female domination.

This remarkable book is organized into four parts—A Feminine Heritage, The Longest War, Out of Europe, and The Resurgence of the Feminine—and appended are an extensive bibliography and on-line reference links. Each of the 15 chapters contains an Objective, Bonus Pointers, "Think About It" suggestions, Summary, and a full complement of exercises.

K-lee Starland is a noted lecturer on women's issues in the area of conflict resolution. Dr. Starland received her Ph.D. in Health and Human Services, specializing in Women's Counseling and National and International Women's Issues. She founded Empowering Women International, which was based in Phoenix, and has worked in association with Phoenix College, the Arizona Governor's Commission on Violence Against Women, the Organization for Non-Violence Education, and the Arizona Chapter of the United Nations.