'Erudite, ambitious and richly global in scope' - PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads

'This book sets a new standard in economic history' - TIM HARFORD, author of How To Make the World Add Up

How many times have we been told that the working woman is a modern phenomenon? That men were responsible for the prosperity of humanity? That women's production was, for much of human history, confined to reproduction?

Economica shows that women have always been at the heart of economic progress, as entrepreneurs, merchants and industrialists - from Phryne, the richest woman in Ancient Athens, to Ching Shih, a sex-worker turned pirate who controlled trade in the South China Sea. Author Victoria Bateman also highlights the amazing stories of female workers who built the Pyramids, traded on the Silk Road and dominated London's medieval breweries.

Spanning the past twelve millennia, from the Stone Age to the present day, Economica rewrites our understanding of women's role in the economy, and tells a more accurate history of us all.

'Victoria Bateman's revelatory and compelling new book puts women at the very heart of mankind's economic history. Economica should help ensure that's where they will remain' - BEN CHU, BBC

'A must-read for anyone interested in women's history and economic justice' - AMANDA FOREMAN, author of Georgiana and A World on Fire

"striking" - The Mail on Sunday

"This delightful book should be your new companion when you're looking into any empire or community of the past" - The New Feminist

"[Economica] is entertaining and [Bateman's] contribution is indisputable" - Times Literary Supplement

"Economica is an epic story . . . an important retelling of global economic history that puts women at the centre" - Financial Times

"a compelling read . .. . filled with interesting and extraordinary stories . . . it encompasses the entire history of (wo)mankind" - The Telegraph of India

"While traditional historians have presented the past as a land in which men were the producers and women only reproducers, Bateman convincingly shows that this was never the case. In doing so, she creates a more comprehensive account of our common heritage . . . In contrast to the myth that women began to emerge from the home into the workplace only in the 20th century, Bateman shows that in every major civilisation, women have indeed participated in economic activity, with or without pay, or with less pay than men, until they were deliberately excluded . . . Bateman regards the deliberate exclusion of women from the economic sphere as the beginning of any civilisation's decline. It is a persuasive argument" - The Hindu

"This book is must-read . . . It is rare that I come away from a book with little criticism or suggestions for what might have been done differently, but this book is an exception. I am a better economist for having read it and I would encourage others to do the same" - The Review of Austrian Economics

"Bateman's gifts as a scholar, writer and wit are beautifully displayed throughout . . . engaging, enjoyable, pacy, fun and quite frankly, exciting" - The Economic History Review