'This is the ultimate that has been written on the myth of the Goddess so far, a powerful and most complete synthesis of what we know about the goddess between the Upper Palaeolithic and modern times. The book is a clear and masterful presentation in fifteen chapters of the flourishing Goddess religion in Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic times; its demise during the Bronze Age caused by the infiltration's of patriarchal Indo-Europeans and Semitic peoples in the Near East and Europe; a cruel and total dethronement during the Iron Age; and ultimately, the irresistible rise of the goddess as Sophia and Virgin Mary as an indestructible archetype needed for the fullness of life in an unbalanced patriarchal society. Each chapter is an indispensable part of the whole and yet each can be read as a separate book. This Magnum Opus will serve as a sourcebook and a guide for many coming years. It will be an indispensable source work for historians of religion, philosophers, anthropologists, archaeologists, and everyone else interested in this very important development of religious ideas. The learned and unbiased presentation of the problem will help to overcome the fear of the Goddess. Most of all this book will serve as a torch for the future, directing us to an understanding of female and male, goddess and god, not in terms of opposition, but as complementarity.' (MARIJA GIMBUTAS).