Time Line
Map of Matriliny
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: Domination
CHAPTER 2: Exception
CHAPTER 3: Genesis
CHAPTER 4: Destruction
CHAPTER 5: Restriction
CHAPTER 6: Alienation
CHAPTER 7: Revolution
CHAPTER 8: Transformation
Afterword
Acknowledgments
References
Index
Angela Saini is an award-winning British science journalist and broadcaster based in New York. Her previous book, Superior: The Return of Race Science, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and named a book of the year by Nature, the Financial Times, and NPR’s Science Friday. Her book Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong has been translated into 14 languages.
“A useful resource for scholars and students of gender studies and
cultural anthropology.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Saini makes a persuasive case that patriarchy is more vulnerable
to change than it appears. It’s a game changer.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The Patriarchs . . . shows that more equal societies are possible
and do thrive – historically, now and everywhere.”
—The Guardian
“In The Patriarchs, Angela Saini [turns] to archaeology,
anthropology, and ancient history to warn readers that neither
gender equity nor patriarchy is preordained.”
—Science
“The great value of this slim and accessible volume is the sweeping
story it tells about how ‘men came to rule’ in a world that was
once much more diverse in its social structures.”
—Kristen R. Ghodsee, Jacobin
“Angela Saini is one of today’s most incisive and important writers
about humanity’s troubling turns, twists, and biases. The
Patriarchs, a book that is at turns myth-busting, startling,
enraging, surprisingly hopeful, and addictively readable, wholly
underlines that point. Don’t miss it.”
—Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Love at Goon
Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection
“Based on extensive interviews with leading experts, this
wide-ranging book injects new life into debates on the origins of
patriarchy. Saini shows how much theorizing about the roots of
gender inequality is a ‘racket,’ resting on shaky assumptions about
human biology and social norms, and serving to naturalize what it
should seek to question: the penetration of household and family
relations by predatory systems of power and exploitation.”
—David Wengrow, coauthor of The Dawn of Everything
“Gripping and beautifully written, Saini’s The Patriarchs is
mind-bending. The Patriarchs compels us to look beyond what is and
what was, and imagine what could be.”
—Jennifer Shahade, author of Chess Queens: The True Story of a
Chess Champion and the Greatest Female Players of All Time
“In a world sewn together by the myth of permanence, The Patriarchs
offers a portal to possibility: the way things are is not
necessarily how they could have been. Male supremacy was never
inevitable; it was a political choice. Once again, Angela Saini has
the receipts. She is scientific journalism at its best—equally
engaging and enraging in her forensic denaturalization of
power.”
—Alok Vaid-Menon, author of Beyond the Gender Binary
“The prose is sparkling, the information is richly textured, and
the insights are plentiful. The Patriarchs is essential reading for
anyone interested in how the legacy of the past continues to shape
the relations between women and men, and how women have struggled
to throw off its yoke.”
—David Livingstone Smith, author of Making Monsters: The Uncanny
Power of Dehumanization
“The Patriarchs cements Saini’s status as a writer of the highest
caliber. . . . The reader is sure to be informed, infuriated,
inspired, and spurred to action by her thorough investigations of
how and why bad ideas are recycled and gender-based injustice
persists.”
—Dr. Amy Parish, primatologist, University of Southern
California
“Saini deftly interweaves interviews with experts in genetics,
archaeology, history, sociology, and literature, as well as social
and legal activists, with nuanced interpretations of key moments in
the history of women to understand how oppression becomes
normalized and patriarchy almost inevitable. Filled with important
stories and the data underlying them, The Patriarchs helps us
grapple with the big questions about the deep histories and present
battles over power, gender relations, and women’s experiences in a
world that often seems bent on keeping us down.”
—Rebecca Futo Kennedy, chair of Classical Studies, Denison
University
“A deep and incisive look at the historical origins of patriarchal
structures we are still fighting today. A must-read for every
feminist.”
—Rafia Zakaria, author of Against White Feminism
“Bold, incisive, and beautifully told, The Patriarchs is a truly
riveting investigation into the origins and consequences of
structural power. The depth and originality of Angela Saini’s
thought and research are breathtaking and world changing. A
phenomenally important and deeply enjoyable book.”
—Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in
a Man-Made World
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