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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.
“International Bestseller
Winner of the 2025 German Nonfiction Prize
Published in More Than 10 Languages
Praise for the German edition of Early Man Was a Woman
"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
