Flinders, who is best known as a coauthor of the bestselling vegetarian cookbook Laurel's Kitchen, has also taught religion and women's studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and now offers an earth-friendly, gender-neutral philosophy for repairing the world. Drawing inspiration from the traditions and cultures of the Native American Ohlone and Pomo Indian tribes that once flourished in her northern California community, she observes that although the tribes did not have a goddess culture, "these were a people who honored women, particularly their female elders... Men and women performed different tasks and played different kinds of games, but the things that concerned women most urgently concerned men also." Calling for a return to this Native American model, free of the restraints of what she calls "gender straightjacketing," Flinders laments the culture clash many people face today, in which the communal values of preagricultural "belonging" societies are at odds with the individualistic, competitive values of our current "enterprise" society. The tone in her loosely organized but entertaining chapters alternates between the academic (she teaches readers the Latin roots of the word "aboriginal") and the anecdotal (e.g., a minister's wife tells her that her husband is experiencing "parish envy" because he wants a bigger congregation). Despite Flinders's strong storytelling skills, though, readers may be disappointed with the book, which, although intriguing at times, presents few groundbreaking ideas in feminist studies. Agent, Candace Fuhrman. (Oct.)
