For centuries, societies have treated male domination as "natural." What if we nevertheless saw gender inequality as something more fragile that has had to be constantly reconstructed and reaffirmed? In this bold and radical book, renowned science journalist Angela Saini explores the roots of what we call "patriarchy," uncovering a complex story of how it was first embedded in societies and spread across the globe, from prehistory to the present. Saini travels to the oldest human settlements, analyzes the latest findings from science and archaeology, and traces cultural and political histories from the Americas to Asia. For more than a century, philosophers, historians, anthropologists and feminists have questioned what patriarchy means. In our time, despite resistance to sexism, abuse, and discrimination, even revolutionary efforts to achieve equality have often ended in failure. But Patriarchy is a profoundly hopeful book, revealing a multiplicity of human arrangements that undermine grandiose old narratives and expose supremacy.