Economica: A Financial Times Best Book of 2025

'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 UpTHE UNTOLD STORY OF HOW WOMEN MADE THE WORLD WEALTHYHumanity's journey from poverty to prosperity is filled with men who have become household names.But how many female entrepreneurs, merchants and industrialists can you name?Economica places women at the centre of the story of economic growth.Starting in the Stone Age and continuing to the present day, it takes the reader through the key economic milestones of the past twelve millennia - from the birth of farming to the advent of computing - all told through the experiences of women as well as men. Historian Victoria Bateman weaves a thrilling, globe-spanning narrative that proves women weren't 'missing' from economic life, they were merely hidden from view.We discover the female workers who helped to build the Great Pyramid of Giza, and to p