Women's Work

The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

Elizabeth Wayland Barber (Occidental College)

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English

WW Norton & Co
08 January 2010

Textile artworks; Social & cultural history; Society & Social Sciences; Feminism & feminist theory

New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women's unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.

Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.

Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated new archaeological methods—methods she herself helped to fashion. In a ""brilliantly original book"" (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.

By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber (Occidental College)
Imprint: WW Norton & Co
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 211mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 264g
ISBN: 9780393313482
ISBN 10: 0393313484
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 08 January 2010
Audience: College/higher education , General/trade , A / AS level , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print

Reviews for Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

Don't be put off by the dullish title: this is as lively to read as a personal diary and as exciting as a treasure hunt. Using mythological, literary and archaeological evidence, it traces the lost history of women's contribution to the textile industry and illuminates the way they lived. Barber learnt her love of textiles from watching her mother spin and weave. In the course of her quest she toured museums all over the world, danced about in Macedonian girdles to feel how their fringes moved ('I felt exhilarated, powerful; I wanted to make them swish and jump'), and re-created a 3000 year old Celtic plaid on her own loom. (Kirkus UK)