What We Are Reading Today: The Patriarchs

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Updated 10 March 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: The Patriarchs

Author: Angela Saini

For centuries, societies have treated male domination as natural to the human species.

But how would our understanding of gender inequality look if we didn’t assume that men have always ruled over women?

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.

The book also analyzes the latest research findings in science and archaeology, and traces cultural and political histories from the Americas to Asia.


What We Are Reading Today: Invisible Hands by Margaret S. Graves

Updated 14 February 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: Invisible Hands by Margaret S. Graves

In the heyday of Islamic art collecting around the turn of the 20th century, thousands of premodern ceramic objects circulated on the international antiquities market. 

“Invisible Hands” tells the story of how traditional craft skills of the Islamic world, often thought to have died out with the advent of industrialization, were redirected toward a thriving new market in the colonial era: the fabrication and fictionalizing of antiquities, especially ceramics.

In this stunning work of art history, Margaret Graves shakes the foundations of the discipline, challenging us to reconsider what is and is not art.