Eisler, Riane 1931–

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Eisler, Riane 1931–

(Riane Tennenhaus Eisler)

PERSONAL:

Born July 22, 1931, in Vienna, Austria; immigrated to the United States, 1946; naturalized U.S. citizen; daughter of David (in business) and Elisa Tennenhaus; married George Eisler, 1953 (divorced); married David Loye (a psychologist and writer), 1987; children: (first marriage) Andrea Suzanne, Loren Claire. Education: University of California, Los Angeles, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1952, J.D., 1965.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Carmel, CA. Office—Center for Partnership Studies, P.O. Box 51936, Pacific Grove, CA 93950; fax: 831-626-3734. Agent—Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group, Inc., 15 E. 26th St., Ste. 1801, New York, NY 10010.

CAREER:

Superior Court, Ann Arbor, MI, social worker, 1953-54; Rand-SDC, Santa Monica, CA, social scientist, 1955-57; Zagon, Schiff, Hirsch & Levine (entertainment law firm), Beverly Hills, CA, staff attorney, 1966-68; private practice of law in Los Angeles, CA, 1968-77; Center for Partnership Studies, Pacific Grove, CA, codirector, 1977-87, president, 1987—, and member of board of directors. Admitted to California Bar and Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. Los Angeles Women's Center, cofounder and staff attorney, 1968-71, associate director of legal program, 1969-71; Institute for Futures Forecasting, Carmel, CA, cofounder and codirector, 1977-86. Lecturer at educational institutions, including University of California, Los Angeles, Immaculate Heart College, University of Costa Rica, University of Helsinki, University of Bologna, and Yale University; speaker in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. Member of board of directors, Cultural Environment Movement and Josephine Foundation; past member of board of directors, Los Angeles Women's Clinic and Los Angeles Young Women's Christian Association; member of advisory board, Global Commission to Fund the United Nations, Earth Island Institute, Center for International Dialogue, and Calvert Fund Economic Indicators Project; corporate consultant. Actors' Studio West, member, 1970-71. Member of international editorial board, Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict; member of editorial board, World Futures; member of international scientific board, Pluriverso.

MEMBER:

World Academy of Art and Science (fellow), World Business Academy (fellow), World Futures Studies Federation, Association of Women Historians, General Evolution Research Group (founding member), National Organization for Women, Population Institute, American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, Older Women's League, Western Association of Women Historians, California Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Women Lawyers' Association, Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Gamma Mu, Friends of Women's International Network News (founding member), Club of Budapest (honorary member).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Torchbearer Award, National Women's Conference, 1990; human rights award, Shaler Adams Foundation, 1992; Humanist Pioneer award, 1996; Equal Rights Amendment Alice Paul Educational Award, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Infinity (play), first produced in Pasadena, CA, at Pasadena Art Museum, 1970.

(With Linda Elden) Help Is on the Way (one-act play), first produced in Los Angeles, CA, at Immaculate Heart College, 1971.

Women Alone (radio play), first broadcast by KPFK-Pacifica Radio, 1971.

Joy (theater piece), first produced in Pasadena, at California Institute of Technology, 1972.

(Under name Riane Tennenhaus Eisler) Dissolution: No-Fault Divorce, Marriage, and the Future of Women, McGraw, Hill (New York, NY), 1977.

(Under name Riane Tennenhaus Eisler) The Equal Rights Handbook: What ERA Means to Your Life, Your Rights, and the Future, Avon (New York, NY), 1978.

(With Abida Khanum) Paean to Women: A Call for Unity (poetry), performed at NGO Forum, End of United Nations Decade for Women Conference, 1985.

(With Allie Hixson) The ERA Facts and Action Guide, National Women's Conference Committee (Washington, DC), 1986.

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, Harper (San Francisco, CA), 1987.

(With husband, David Loye) The Partnership Way: New Tools for Living and Learning, HarperCollins (San Francisco), 1990.

Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body, Harper (San Francisco, CA), 1995.

(With David Loye and Kari Norgaard) Women, Men, and the Global Quality of Life, Center for Partnership Studies (Pacific Grove, CA), 1995.

Tomorrow's Children: A Blueprint for Partnership Education in the Twenty-first Century, Westview (Boulder, CO), 2000.

The Power of Partnership: Seven Relationships that Will Change Your Life, New World Library (Novato, CA), 2002.

(Editor, with Ron Miller) Educating for a Culture of Peace, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 2004.

The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics, Berrett-Koehler (San Francisco, CA), 2007.

Work represented in anthologies, including New Life Options: The Working Woman's Handbook, edited by Rosaling K. Loring and Herbert A. Otto, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1976; Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Political Issues, edited by George McKenna and Stanley Feingold, Dushkin (Guilford, CT), 1980; Peace Prayers: Meditations, Affirmations, Invocations, Poems, and Prayers for Peace, Harper (San Francisco, CA), 1992; When the Canary Stops Singing: Women's Perspectives of the Transforming Workplace, edited by Pat Barrentine, New Leaders Press (San Francisco, CA), 1993; and This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, edited by Roger S. Gottlieb, Routledge (New York, NY), 1996. Correspondent, Women's International News Service, 1985. Contributor of several dozen articles and reviews to periodicals, including Creative Woman, Humanist, Commonwealth, California Continuing Education for the Bar, New Life Options, Women's Rights Law Reporter, Everywoman, and Social Action.

Eisler's writings have been translated into Japanese, French, German, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Danish, Norwegian, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Urdu, Portuguese, Korean, Croatian, Swedish, and Czech.

SIDELIGHTS:

Riane Eisler once commented: "I write out of deep commitment—compelling me to ‘bear witness’ to the human situation, and also to try to contribute to its betterment, at the same time trying to juggle all my roles: mother, friend and partner, household administrator, business manager, chief cook and bottle washer, so that the end product is I think very much a reflection, not only of my aspirations, but my life."

Eisler later told CA: "Born in Vienna, at the age of six I was a refuge from the Nazis. I grew up in Havana, and at the age of fourteen immigrated to the United States, where I obtained degrees in sociology and law at the University of California at Los Angeles. My professional background spans a lifetime of research, writing, teaching, consulting, lecturing, and community organizing. I have done pioneering work in human rights, developing a new, integrated model that includes the rights of women and children. I have founded educational and research organizations, including the Los Angeles Women's Center Legal Program, the first in the United States, and the Center for Partnership Studies. As an educational consultant, I have developed new primary and secondary school curricula. I have also been a consultant to Disney, Paramount, and Stentor International."

Even more recently, Eisler added: "My work is systemic, driven by a passion for making ours a better world for our children, grandchildren, and generations still to come."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Brown, David Jay, and Rebecca McClen Novick, Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations for the New Millennium, Crossing Press (Freedom, CA), 1993.

Callahan, Matthew, Sex, Death, and the Angry Young Man: Conversations with Riane Eisler and David Loye, Times Change Press (Ojai, CA), 1993.

Gerzon, Mark, Coming into Our Own, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1992.

Housden, Roger, and Chloe Goodchild, We Two, HarperCollins (San Francisco, CA), 1992.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 1998, Gretchen Furber, review of The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, p. 1024.

California Bookwatch, June, 2007, review of The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics.

Inc., October, 1990, Susan Marks, review of The Chalice and the Blade, p. 151.

Library Journal, January, 2000, Samuel T. Huang, review of Tomorrow's Children: A Blueprint for Partnership Education in the Twenty-first Century, p. 130; April 15, 2007, April Younglove, review of The Real Wealth of Nations, p. 98.

Publishers Weekly, May 8, 1995, review of Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body, p. 280; February 7, 2000, review of Tomorrow's Children, p. 79; March 5, 2007, review of The Real Wealth of Nations, p. 55.

Reference and Research Book News, August, 2007, review of The Real Wealth of Nations.

WIN News, spring, 2002, Fran P. Hosken, review of The Power of Partnership: Seven Relationships that Will Change Your Life, p. 92.