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“A literary gift to readers. . . . In this fascinating historiography, Lust envisions the dawn of humanity through a fresh lens.”—Kirkus, starred review
Here, in this captivating graphic history, are women—strong, powerful, intelligent, enterprising, inferior to no one—situated as never before at the heart of understanding our history, as far back as the Stone Age record can take us
History is written by the victors, and the victors are men. This assumption colors our view of every past era: The fittest survive. The strongest rule. “Human nature” is intrinsically warlike.
The record tells a different story.
Across the globe, over millennia—immortalized in bone, stone, and fired clay—archaeologists find: women. From 40,000 years ago until the birth of Christ, statuettes of women—in poses totally free of shame—overwhelmingly outnumber depictions of men.
Why did our prehistoric ancestors portray women so consistently, so predominantly? And what does this tell us about how our societies have evolved—or devolved?
In immersive imagery and sweeping sequences, award-winning author and artist Ulli Lust ranges with grace across archaeology, anthropology, art history, and her own lived experience to “reset” the human narrative. She brings to vivid life the prehistoric people whose greatest victory was sheer survival—a group effort achieved by women, men, children, and nonbinary people—in societies far more egalitarian than we, their modern descendants, have dared to imagine.
Magisterially conceived, intensively researched, brilliantly executed, Early Man Was a Woman is a towering achievement—a profound retelling of the human story—from the very beginning to today.
“Winner of the Max & Moritz Award for Best Non Fiction Comic
International Bestseller
Winner of the 2025 German Nonfiction Prize
Published in More Than 10 Languages
"An entertaining, whimsically drawn prehistory focused on human cooperation and creative effort. . . . Lust’s fluid, naturalistic art, colored in warm earth tones, vividly evokes the paleolithic world. Details ranging from burial sites to herds of woolly mammoths showcase her extensive research. It’s an illuminating look into what makes humans human.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Sophisticated and visually arresting. . . . An intellectually rigorous, timely, and provocative meditation on the ways in which cultural narratives shape knowledge and a vital reminder that privileging certain voices while excluding others is to the detriment of not only scholars but of all humankind.”—Library Journal, starred review
“Lust’s gorgeous, intimate illustrations deftly make tangible the realities of nomadic existence, offering the reader a rich sense of what it might have felt like to live so close to the Earth. Surrounded by crackling bonfires, shifting glaciers, the great gray ocean, rolling clouds, towering mammoths, and soaring birds, the inception of humanity as Lust depicts it is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Stunning use of the graphic form in a formidable fusion of deep detail and broad purpose.”—Kirkus, starred review
“Fascinating, compelling. . . . An illuminating graphic history about women’s roles in early human societies. . . . The full-color art is wonderful, adding a valuable level of visual understanding with its depictions of humans from awide array of cultures.”—Foreword
“The time has long since arrived when such books must be written. Ulli Lust captivates readers and draws them deeply into the social life of early humans . . . [creating] a compelling mix for reflection on our understanding of ‘womanhood.’”—Christine Neugebauer-Maresch, Institute of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna
“[Early Man Was a Woman] offers a completely new perspective on our prehistory and early history. And this perspective is feminine.”—Nina Apin, taz
“Praise for Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life and How I Tried to Be a Good Person
"[A] sprawling, meditative graphic novel . . . [that] ripples with exuberance: [Lust] convincingly evokes her teenage feelings of fury and joy, and the small details of the way she experienced unfamiliar places for the first time.”—Douglas Wolk, The New York Times
“An intimate and imaginative follow-up graphic memoir to Lust’s Ignatz award–winning punk travelogue.”—Publishers Weekly
“Lust’s energetic, searching book . . . reveals the power of desire—and the pain when jealousy rears its head.”—The Guardian
“This comic is a sensation. Ulli Lust has a story to tell that is unparalleled.”—Andreas Platthaus, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
