- Hardcover: 334 pages
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co. (8 Feb 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0393035069
- ISBN-13: 978-0393035063
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,050,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
2500 years ago, the women of Athens slaved at home, virtual prisoners of their husbands, expected to provide the cloth and clothing for their family. 4000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, there was a very different picture: respectable women were in business, weaving textiles at home to be sold abroad for gold and silver. Going back even further, 20,000 years ago women began making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibres. Indeed, for over 20,000 years, until the Industrial Revolution, the arts of weaving belonged primarily to women and were the principal vehicle for demonstrating their various roles as mother, provider, worker, entrepreneur and artist.
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First Sentence
For millennia women have sat together spinning, weaving, and sewing. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
For millennia women have sat together spinning, weaving, and sewing. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What is the characteristic essential to make a job "women's work"? It has to be something they can do while caring for children.
Starting from this insight, the author takes us on a fascinating trail through several thousand years of textile history, relating it to her own life and women's lives in general. Among the things that stay with you are the story of the "string skirt" described in Homer, seen on early "Venus" fertility figures, and tried out by the author with surprising results. Or how Danish women used to be trained to weave and started by making their own trousseau -- with the quantities of towels carefully judged to last a lifetime. Or how the author tried to recreate a piece of plaid over 2000 years old and had a sudden insight into how it was woven when she had it on the loom.
This book is a companion piece to Barber's scholarly volume on ancient textiles (also highly recommended for the serious-minded), adding a human and sometimes very personal dimension.
Anyone who has the weaving or spinning bug, loves yarns and textiles or simply wants to know more about the way our ancestresses lived, will find this a satisfying and illuminating read.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Fascinating! I found this by chance in the library yesterday - it narrates the history of textiles from the very beginning, the invention of spinning and weaving, the reasons why cloth production has been the responsibility of women. I have always been interested in textiles, and this is one of the most useful introductions to the history of textiles I have found.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am an obstetrician/gynecologist, who was a hand weaver before going to medical school. I have always enjoyed reading about archeology. I didn't know I was looking for this book until I found it. The fiber arts have always been women's work. How women's production of fiber and fabrics was interwoven with the functioning of different ancient societies is explored in this very readable book. I was especially taken by the idea of the Fates as the midwives waiting for a delivery and spinning thread; and the newborn's fate is the spun thread.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Discovering the origins of weaving
As someone who has always loved textile crafts, and been interested in ancient history, folk tales and the development of language, I was enthralled by this book. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Mrs. A. Nicol
This book is a fascinating view of textiles through time.
At first, I had to get used to the female centric writing however, that is the thrust of this book. Not really. Read more
Published on 1 April 2010 by bernie
This book is a fascinating view of textiles through time.
At first, I had to get used to the female centric writing however, that is the thrust of this book. Not really. Read more
Published on 1 April 2010 by bernie
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