"...draws on a vast body of research and help from consultants in all sorts of fields, to open out areas that are rarely accessible... Above all, she recalls the depth and breadth of the war that has been waged on women down the centuries, the restrictions placed in so many times and so many places on their sexuality, their education, their freedom to travel, their voices" -- The Guardian. "As a reference work it's invaluable: the bibliographies alone are worth the price. And as a warning about the appalling extremes of human behavior and male weirdness, it's indispensable." -- Margaret Atwood, The Times (London). "Nowhere have I ever seen assembled such a quantity and diversity of material about women. Nowhere have I seen such material forged into a consistently readable, entertaining whole, unashamedly slanted in its sympathies towards women and definitely designed to instruct women of this and future generations." -- Clara Thomas, Books in Canada.

Foreword by Margaret Atwood; Introduction; Part One: Parents; The Mothers; The Fathers. Part Two: The Rise of the State; State Formation in Peru, Egypt, and Sumer; A Secular State: China; A Religious State: India; A Militaristic State: Mexico. Part Three: God, Glory, and Delusions of Grandeur; Judaism; Greece; Rome; Christianity; Islam; Glossary; Notes; Bibliography; Maps; The Expansion of Rome; The Expansion of Islam; Index.