The Patriarchs

The Origins of Inequality

By: Angela Saini

Narrated by: Sohm Kapila

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

For fans of Sapiens and The Dawn of Everything, a groundbreaking exploration of gendered oppression—its origins, its histories, our attempts to understand it, and our efforts to combat it

For centuries, societies have treated male domination as natural to the human species. But how would our understanding of gender inequality—our imagined past and contested present—look if we didn’t assume that men have always ruled over women? If we saw inequality as something more fragile that has had to be constantly remade and reasserted?

In this bold and radical book, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini explores the roots of what we call patriarchy, uncovering a complex history of how it first became embedded in societies and spread across the globe from prehistory into the present. She travels to the world’s earliest known human settlements, analyzes the latest research findings in science and archaeology, and traces cultural and political histories from the Americas to Asia, finding that:

• From around 7,000 years ago there are signs that a small number of powerful men were having more children than other men
• From 5,000 years ago, as the earliest states began to expand, gendered codes appeared in parts of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East to serve the interests of powerful elites—but in slow, piecemeal ways, and always resisted
• In societies where women left their own families to live with their husbands, marriage customs came to be informed by the widespread practice of captive-taking and slavery, eventually shaping laws that alienated women from systems of support and denied them equal rights
• There was enormous variation in gender and power in many societies for thousands of years, but colonialism and empire dramatically changed ways of life across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, spreading rigidly patriarchal customs and undermining how people organized their families and work.

In the 19th century and 20th centuries, philosophers, historians, anthropologists, and feminists began to actively question what patriarchy meant as part of the attempt to understand the origins of inequality. In our own time, despite the pushback against sexism, abuse, and discrimination, even revolutionary efforts to bring about equality have often ended in failure and backlash. But The Patriarchs is a profoundly hopeful book—one that reveals a multiplicity to human arrangements that undercuts the old grand narratives and exposes male supremacy as no more (and no less) than an ever-shifting element in systems of control.

©2023 Angela Saini (P)2023 Beacon Press

Critic reviews

“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

A stunning achievement. I’ll never think of the world the same way.

Saini captures, analyzes, distills, and beautifully articulates a complex history that throws into question so many assumptions we have about our past. Deftly and without sentimentality she enables and encourages us to take a harder look at the origins of our patriarchal present.

Crucial Reading

Angela Saini has done an amazing job gathering, compiling, and delivering so much data that tells a global history from antiquity to present day. She has done her due diligence and it shows.

This should be required reading.

Thank you so much for all of the work that went into this book.

The narration was also on point - well done! I found the narration to be the perfect tempo, not too slow or fast, and free of the sometimes over pronunciation or skyward pauses that can jar the reader and impact the cadence of the sentences:

Comprehensive and fair

An open-minded and open-hearted, but rigorous, history and commentary. She is able to understand and give its due to pretty much every point of view.

Great perspective on history and the evolution of patriarchy

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook version. The way the author introduces different theories and ideas is intriguing and I love the history she brought to light. A must read for all women and men. 

A “Must Read”

This book blew me away. Saini tackles so much and she does it impeccably well. I couldn’t stop listening and now that I’m through it, I have an incredible new depth of perspective. I want to talk about it with everyone!

Patriarchys over time and space

Clearly a great deal of work in describing the global and geopolitical variations in patriarchy. But there didn’t seem to be a connecting theme. I found myself thinking when I finished