How have men and women's social roles differed throughout history? What distinguishes them biologically-and what makes them the same? And why is it that the world over, throughout history, female self-expression and liberty have been curtailed?

In this one-of-a-kind work of creative non-fiction, author Mercia Jensen-Stickney posits a theory of the social evolution of women's place in the world, showing how the answers to these questions are inextricably bound up with one another. Jensen-Stickney considers everything from mammalian mating patterns to the story of Eve, from gender relations in hunter-gatherer societies to the sexual revolution of the American 1960s, leaving no stone unturned in her account of the inhibition of female self-determination across space and time.

Both scientific and historic in its interests, Sapien delivers a condensed, penetrating account of women's situation from prehistory through to the present-and a counter-theory for the inherent value of women's knowledge, given the uniquely irreplaceable role they have always played in society. It is a must-read for any woman curious about her situation in the world.