Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us

by Anna Malaika Tubbs

Overview

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • USA TODAY NATIONAL BESTSELLER • AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR 2025

The new book from the New York Times bestselling author of The Three Mothers.

In Erased, Anna Malaika Tubbs recovers all that American patriarchy has tried to destroy.

Patriarchy has oppressed women and denied their contributions worldwide, but the United States of America has its own unique gendered hierarchy. Dr. Anna Malaika Tubbs applies her signature blend of approachable yet rigorous analysis in this definitive and groundbreaking history of American patriarchy. She proves that humanity in the United States is determined by gender in a limited and flawed binary that is also always tied to whiteness. Tubbs shows how a fabricated hierarchy became so deeply ingrained over time that it now goes unnoticed, along with everything it intentionally conceals.

From the founding fathers to the current Supreme Court justices, from the treatment of enslaved women to the American maternal health crises, from the exclusion of women in the Constitution to the continued lack of an Equal Rights Amendment, Tubbs brings together academic research, the stories of freedom fighters both past and present, and her own experiences to reveal what is erased in the wake of American patriarchy. The system has survived by hiding the tools that are necessary to dismantle it. But Tubbs beautifully reminds us that those tools, including our intuition, courage, ancient wisdom, and power, are still well within our reach.

Erased is the story of the United States from a new perspective: one where the people who shaped this country–who have been oppressed and whose contributions have been denied–are at the center, reminding us that we can restore what has been strategically kept from us. Once again, Dr. Anna Malaika Tubbs has written a book that will be a touchstone for conversations on gender, race, and equity for years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250876713
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	05/19/2026
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Anna Malaika Tubbs is a New York Times Bestselling author, advocate, and educator. Her writing has been featured in Time, New York, CNN, the Guardian, and elsewhere. Her first book, titled The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation, was a New York Times bestseller.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Erased

“A primer for understanding the way and why of patriarchy that couldn't be more on time. Anna's remarkable storytelling makes this more than an academic exercise—it places you right in the center of it, and asks you to engage directly with how we help patriarchy persist, and more importantly, what's at stake for all of us if we dare to resist—and leave no one behind along the way.” —Alicia Garza, civil rights activist and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement


“With Erased, Anna Malaika Tubbs offers a visionary and clear-eyed understanding of patriarchy that goes beyond the incomplete definitions that many of us have grown to accept as fact. This book is not a simplistic story of men vs. women; it’s about the full complexity of our lives and our futures.” —Tarana Burke, activist, author, and founder of the Me Too movement

“Drawing from history, law, and lived experience, this book provides an unflinching examination of how patriarchy has shaped America’s past and present. With masterful prose, Tubbs challenges readers through proven evidence to confront the systems that perpetuate inequity and invites us to imagine a future where those systems are dismantled.” —Eve Rodsky, NYT bestselling author of Fair Play

“Anna Malaika Tubbs has written a book that demands we directly confront the way patriarchy—both systemic and interpersonal—has shaped the history of our country and the reality of our present. Erased is unflinching in its assessment and necessary in its urgency. There is so much to learn from these pages. I am so grateful this book exists.” —Clint Smith, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How the Word is Passed

“An illuminating and inspiring examination of the structures that founding fathers used to establish this country. This is the framework that we all need to understand American history today. At a time when facts are disputed and access to them is contested, Erased is a balm and a breath of fresh air.” —Christy Turlington Burns, Founder & President of Every Mother Counts

“A trenchant treatise on the damaging reach of American patriarchy [...] renders complex concepts a pleasure to read.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Offers a historical and cultural analysis of American patriarchy with a scope both broad and robust. From the misogynistic legal doctrines that influenced America’s Founding Fathers to the social media platforms monetizing girls’ low self-esteem, Tubbs aims to reveal patriarchy in all its forms. Rigorous and grounded by years of academic research, it’s an engaging read owing to the plain language and interwoven memoir elements. Tubbs draws a clear path from her lived experience to systemic patriarchy, illuminating how the abstract manifests in everyday life.” —Booklist

“Reexamining the history you thought you knew can be both unsettling and astounding. In Erased, Anna Malaika Tubbs succeeds in making it a worthy exploration.” —Bookpage

From the Publisher

2025-03-08
A scholar posits that patriarchy is the organizing concept behind the multiple oppressions built into the fabric of the United States.

Tubbs decided to pursue a doctorate in sociology because she believes that patriarchy is the controlling force behind many American systems of oppression. She writes, “Despite the debated origins of patriarchy it was clear to me that it dictated our society, our behavior, and social relationships in the United States and that, vice versa, these things then continued to reinforce patriarchy.” In her book, she expounds on this theory, using historical and modern examples of how “putting white men at the top of the hierarchy and keeping power out of the hands of everyone else unless it serves the dominant group to include them” reverberates through all aspects of our lives. The author traces how the intersections of gender and race permeate the way girls and women in particular experience the world. She cites Mary Todd Lincoln’s refusal to bow to gendered expectations of her role as first lady, white male gynecologists’ usurpation of reproductive medicine from BIPOC midwives, and social media’s erosion of the mental health of girls and women. Throughout, Tubbs includes glimpses into her personal history, including a description of her white mother’s upbringing and her own experience of giving birth with the help of a doula to emphasize the personal effects of patriarchy’s iron grip. The book is a deeply researched, analytical, and convincing condemnation of white male patriarchy. The author’s conversational tone renders complex concepts a pleasure to read. Although the book’s scope is impressive, it covers so much ground that it can often feel disjointed, particularly when the author strays from personal experiences that ground her ideas.

A trenchant treatise on the damaging reach of American patriarchy.

Kirkus Reviews