Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Basic Books (2020), 320 pages
Description
"The story of humanity is the story of textiles--as old as civilization itself. Textiles created empires and powered invention. They established trade routes and drew nations' borders. Since the first thread was spun, fabric has driven technology, business, politics, and culture. In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel traces this surprising history, exposing the hidden ways textiles have made our world. The origins of chemistry lie in the coloring and finishing of cloth. The beginning of binary code--and perhaps all of mathematics--is found in weaving. Selective breeding to produce fibers heralded the birth of agriculture. The belt drive came from silk production. So did microbiology. The textile business funded the Italian Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; it left us double-entry bookkeeping and letters of credit, the David and the Taj Mahal. From the Minoans who exported woolen cloth colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to the Romans who wore wildly expensive Chinese silk, the trade and production of textiles paved the economic and cultural crossroads of the ancient world. As much as spices or gold, the quest for fabrics and dyes drew sailors across strange seas, creating an ever-more connected global economy. Synthesizing groundbreaking research from economics, archaeology, and anthropology, Postrel weaves a rich tapestry of human cultural development"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member quondame
The history and uses of fibers from the first strings to filaments incorporating lithium batteries or micro chips are explored in an entertaining way, and to of my favorite practitioners Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Jane Malcom-Davies both come in for kudos. As I already understood a good deal of
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the importance of fiber technology in civilization only some aspects were enlightening for me, though this material could be a complete eye-opener for someone who only looks at plastic, silicon or metal fabrications as technology. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dreesie
In this book Postrel argues that so much of what we see as “civilization” came to be because of the need and desire for textiles. She includes selective breeding of plants and animals; loom and dye technologies; bills of exchange and double-entry bookkeeping; the study of silkworm diseases; and
I have read other works on textile history. Usually they are written chronologically, which can get dry. The chapters of this book are organized by phase of production/sale: fiber, thread, cloth, dye, traders, consumers, innovators. This allows for the simultaneous discussion of similar technologies developed on different continents, and Postrel does a great job of moving through time and space, right up to modern research is smart fabrics. This book is very readable and I definitely learned a lot, though I still don’t fully understand bills of exchange.
Thank you to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing me with an egalley of this book.
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world trade itself. We know the Industrial Revolution was based on looms for textiles production—but Postrel argues that textile technological development were in full swing centuries earlier and all around the world.I have read other works on textile history. Usually they are written chronologically, which can get dry. The chapters of this book are organized by phase of production/sale: fiber, thread, cloth, dye, traders, consumers, innovators. This allows for the simultaneous discussion of similar technologies developed on different continents, and Postrel does a great job of moving through time and space, right up to modern research is smart fabrics. This book is very readable and I definitely learned a lot, though I still don’t fully understand bills of exchange.
Thank you to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing me with an egalley of this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Tytania
Virginia Postrel writes here a sweeping overview of all aspects of textile production, something I understand normal people seldom think about.
It's a unique book in that Postrel barely inserts herself into the story at all - no "My Year of Trying to Learn Spinning, Weaving, and Other Fabricky
Not that I wouldn't want to hear about Postrel. Long ago I enjoyed a book of hers called THE FUTURE & ITS ENEMIES, and I used to read REASON magazine when she was editor. I listened to an interview with her promoting this book a short time ago. She learned to weave & spin, too, as part of her research. She was fun to listen to.
But the book jumps all over. The chapters are: Fiber, Thread, Cloth, Dye, Traders, & Consumers; and within the chapters themselves she also does a lot of jumping. I would have preferred more depth and more narrative arc, somehow.
My favorite chapter was "Dye." I love this observation: "'Any weed can be a dye,' fifteenth-century Florentine dyers used to say. But that's only if you want yellows, browns, or grays..." Ha! That's always my complaint about natural dyeing with things you can find in Vermont: all I ever got was yellow.
And her dye class in India: "Rinse and dump, rinse and dump - tub after tub of water gets hurled into the yard. To my drought-trained Angeleno eyes, it seems like a disturbingly thirsty process." I've often thought how different my hobbies might be if I lived out west - the washing and the dyeing of fiber uses tubs full of water. Happily, I live in a place that dumps snow during the winter in ample amounts that I feel perfectly happy pulling all the water I like out of our well all summer long.
It also seemed to me that the book was a bit Eurocentric. I wished there had been an exploration of how they made calico in India - instead, all that's discussed is how it changed fashions and spurred competing industries in Europe.
There are copious pictures and a beautiful cover. I would recommend jumping around as the interest takes you.
It's a unique book in that Postrel barely inserts herself into the story at all - no "My Year of Trying to Learn Spinning, Weaving, and Other Fabricky
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Things" this. She might begin a chapter or section describing her attendance at some textile-related class, or getting food poisoning in India while researching some dye method, but then poof - it is quickly no longer about her at all. Refreshing!Not that I wouldn't want to hear about Postrel. Long ago I enjoyed a book of hers called THE FUTURE & ITS ENEMIES, and I used to read REASON magazine when she was editor. I listened to an interview with her promoting this book a short time ago. She learned to weave & spin, too, as part of her research. She was fun to listen to.
But the book jumps all over. The chapters are: Fiber, Thread, Cloth, Dye, Traders, & Consumers; and within the chapters themselves she also does a lot of jumping. I would have preferred more depth and more narrative arc, somehow.
My favorite chapter was "Dye." I love this observation: "'Any weed can be a dye,' fifteenth-century Florentine dyers used to say. But that's only if you want yellows, browns, or grays..." Ha! That's always my complaint about natural dyeing with things you can find in Vermont: all I ever got was yellow.
And her dye class in India: "Rinse and dump, rinse and dump - tub after tub of water gets hurled into the yard. To my drought-trained Angeleno eyes, it seems like a disturbingly thirsty process." I've often thought how different my hobbies might be if I lived out west - the washing and the dyeing of fiber uses tubs full of water. Happily, I live in a place that dumps snow during the winter in ample amounts that I feel perfectly happy pulling all the water I like out of our well all summer long.
It also seemed to me that the book was a bit Eurocentric. I wished there had been an exploration of how they made calico in India - instead, all that's discussed is how it changed fashions and spurred competing industries in Europe.
There are copious pictures and a beautiful cover. I would recommend jumping around as the interest takes you.
Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
This is a worthy book, thoroughly researched and well written. But it left me cold. As an avid reader of history and a long-term devotee of textiles, I expected to enjoy this book very much. Sadly, the level of technical detail left me lost, and bored. I abandoned ship midway. For someone with more
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technical tolerance, and/or a higher boredom frontier, it's probably a great read. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookAnonJeff
Fascinating History. Postrel does a remarkable job of looking at the various people and technologies of making (primarily clothing) textiles throughout history and even into the future. She largely centers around the various types of entities involved in the work, from the source materials to the
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weavers to the sellers and a few other types, and shows how each contributed in some way to the overall history and to where we are now. Several tidbits I didn't know, including just how much cotton yarn is in an average pair of jeans, and a few that sound plausible, but which I'd need to research a bit more (such as claims about textiles being an early form of computing). At least one passage in particular actually brought to mind the James McAvoy / Angelina Jolie / Morgan Freeman movie Wanted, where looms and weaving play a central part in the mythos. Very much recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member Brightman
Perspective worldwide on fabric for Susan and her quilting activities...
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
This was a very interesting account of the ways in which textiles have played a role in the development of civilization. Virginia Postrel looks at all stages of textiles from fiber to thread to cloth and dye, as well as the roles of traders and consumers, from ancient times to the present day. She
In every chapter of this book I found “aha moments,” and things that sent me off to the internet to learn more. I had never thought about the parallels between weaving and computer programming, but that explains a lot about why I find weaving patterns so interesting. Postrel unpacks a lot of scientific concepts in ways that make them easier for the layperson to understand. Although I admit some of these interested me more than others (I may have skimmed at times), I found this book fascinating on so many levels.
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concludes with innovators who are driving today’s textile industry forward in ways their forebears could never have imagined. In every chapter of this book I found “aha moments,” and things that sent me off to the internet to learn more. I had never thought about the parallels between weaving and computer programming, but that explains a lot about why I find weaving patterns so interesting. Postrel unpacks a lot of scientific concepts in ways that make them easier for the layperson to understand. Although I admit some of these interested me more than others (I may have skimmed at times), I found this book fascinating on so many levels.
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LibraryThing member Strider66
The book consists of seven chapters with a preface and afterward. Each chapter deals with a particular part of fabric production: Fiber, Thread, Cloth, Dye, Traders, Consumers, and Innovators. Each chapter starts in ancient times and ends in modern ones, showing how things have changed over
Fabric is one of those things that is so ubiquitous and important for life, and yet is also so ordinary and cheap nowadays that we simply forget about it. The book emphasizes that for most of human history fabric was at the forefront of thought. The amount of time and effort that’s gone into clothing and cloth for other purposes (sails, table coverings, curtains, blankets, etc.) is astronomical.
The book begins with the idea that modern people look at ancient art dealing with women and see a spindle and think, ah, this is a domestic scene. But we forget that the spindle as a means of turning fibres into thread was the start of production, necessary for the home, yes, but also an important industry. Millions of women over the course of history have spun thread and made cloth, whether of flax, cotton, wool, or silk. It was constant work because cloth is always needed. The book also shows how spinning thread was undervalued, partly because it was women’s work, but also because the higher the cost of thread, the higher the cost of cloth. We do the same thing today, keeping the final cost of clothing low so the rich can buy a lot of it, even if that means exploiting the workers who sew the cloth into clothing.
My interests are in ancient and medieval history so I didn’t expect the modern sections to interest me, but they were also fascinating. Learning about how cotton plants were cross bread and a fluke mutation created the cotton plants bred today was neat.
This is an excellent book dealing with a topic that affects everyone, but to which we give entirely too little thought.
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time.Fabric is one of those things that is so ubiquitous and important for life, and yet is also so ordinary and cheap nowadays that we simply forget about it. The book emphasizes that for most of human history fabric was at the forefront of thought. The amount of time and effort that’s gone into clothing and cloth for other purposes (sails, table coverings, curtains, blankets, etc.) is astronomical.
The book begins with the idea that modern people look at ancient art dealing with women and see a spindle and think, ah, this is a domestic scene. But we forget that the spindle as a means of turning fibres into thread was the start of production, necessary for the home, yes, but also an important industry. Millions of women over the course of history have spun thread and made cloth, whether of flax, cotton, wool, or silk. It was constant work because cloth is always needed. The book also shows how spinning thread was undervalued, partly because it was women’s work, but also because the higher the cost of thread, the higher the cost of cloth. We do the same thing today, keeping the final cost of clothing low so the rich can buy a lot of it, even if that means exploiting the workers who sew the cloth into clothing.
My interests are in ancient and medieval history so I didn’t expect the modern sections to interest me, but they were also fascinating. Learning about how cotton plants were cross bread and a fluke mutation created the cotton plants bred today was neat.
This is an excellent book dealing with a topic that affects everyone, but to which we give entirely too little thought.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
And you thought that cloth was boring and unimportant.
This book follows the history of fibers and cloth from their beginnings, and then how they influenced other aspects of life, culture, and economics.
This book follows the history of fibers and cloth from their beginnings, and then how they influenced other aspects of life, culture, and economics.
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
9.55 inches
ISBN
1541617606 / 9781541617605