Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
46th out of 266 books
—
70 voters
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times
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 cl
...morePaperback, 336 pages
Published
September 17th 1995
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published January 1st 1994)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
738)
It took me far too long to write about this book. Barber is the most engaging of fiber-art historians, hands down. The discipline has received far too little attention for far too many years, and it is wonderful to see so well respected a scholar attack, and love, the subject. She is a weaver and general fiber-artist as well as a linguist and archaeologist. That combination of disciplines lends her rare insight. She can spot bad research miles away and can also admit when she makes mistakes in h...more
One of the most interesting books I've ever read, although I'm sure it won't sound that way when I describe it. It's a discussion of weaving and its relation to women's historical roles. The two are interconnected in some complicated and fascinating ways. I borrowed a copy from my school library a few years ago because I'd heard it was a good read, and actually need to get one of my own now so I can reread it sometime soon.
I love handwork and this book helped me understand the history of women and textiles, fabrics, threads, yarns of all kinds. elizabeth Wayland Barber has assembled a wonderful collection of artifacts and documentation about this primal work. I felt connected to the sisterhood of women through the ages!
A fascinating look at human history told through weaving.
Excellent book on the origins and development of spinning and weaving in Middle East and Europe. Ms. Barber, an archeologist and weaver, has an engaging style. She not only tells us what we know about the early history of weaving, she shows us how we know. She is also very apolitical in her approach; she neither praises nor condemns the treatment of women throughout this early period of history (Neolithic to the Iron Age). She restricts herself to the data. Highly recommended for those intereste...more
For what seems like it would be a dusty, dry, academic tome, Women's Work was really quite an enjoyable read. Reconstructing women's life and position in society from Paleolithic times to the Iron Age using advanced archeological methods as well as methods borrowed from other areas of research (linguistics, for example), Barber delves into the world of textiles--in particular, spinning and weaving--for what it reveals about the culture and society of the day. As a quiltmaker, I was interested in...more
This is a fascinating, well-written book about the role of women in creating cloth (a valuable commodity) from pre-historic times up to the Industrial Revolution.
The author uses data acquired through sophisticated archaeological methods to "show that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient and early modern worlds, with their own industry: fabric."
The language is clear and the narrative style engaging, making it a fun and informative read about the everyday lives of women in ancient...more
The author uses data acquired through sophisticated archaeological methods to "show that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient and early modern worlds, with their own industry: fabric."
The language is clear and the narrative style engaging, making it a fun and informative read about the everyday lives of women in ancient...more
Wonderful book, full of insights. Women's role changes through history, but the constant is that women have the primary responsibility of early childhood rearing. Women's work always has to be something that could be combined with a safe atmosphere for the children. When farming was done with little more than sticks, farming was women's work. When farming was done with horses and a metal plow, farming was too dangerous for the children, so it became men's work. So pragmatic. Rational.
I first read this book many years ago, and was recently reminded of it. Very much an answer for all those people who look at standard histories and ask, "But what were the women doing all that time?"
It was also once favorably reviewed in Scientific American, I happily recall.
Highly recommended. For everyone, really, but very much for any writer thinking about their world-building.
Ta, L.
It was also once favorably reviewed in Scientific American, I happily recall.
Highly recommended. For everyone, really, but very much for any writer thinking about their world-building.
Ta, L.
This is excellent; easy to read without being superficial, clear about both its conclusions and the data on which it bases them, and enlightening about a rather under-studied topic. She occasionally falls into a logical trap even when identifying it ahead of time, but in general she does a good job of building on facts rather than occasionally waving them in the direction of her theory. I've read an awful lot worse pop-archaeology books!
Recommended for people who are interested in fibre-crafts,...more
Recommended for people who are interested in fibre-crafts,...more
EW Barber's much more readable work on textile. Although much less exhausting than her other work on the same subject, this one is much more enjoyable (her personal stories were darling), while still maintaining an academic veneer with its engaging of ancient texts and art and serious questioning of the role played by cloth and clothing in society.
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...more
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...more
This was an interesting read dealing with the history of cloth from its origins in the Paleolithic up to the Bronze Age while noting the social and economic impact it had on women's lives. At times it was a little repetitive, and some of the weaving descriptions were a little difficult to follow, but overall it was an edifying read. Perhaps the most interesting were the chapters on weaving and mythology in which the author discusses cloth's role in ancient stories and the section that dealt with...more
Barber makes a strong case for the role of women in society based on her study of the organic matter that has been lost to the archaeological record. It does far more to illustrate the equality of labor in hunter-gatherer societies than the similar, but more agenda-driven, The Invisible Sex (which largely asserts a female superiority).
I found this book incredibly fascinating, and have been recommending it to all my fibre friends! EWB manages to make history into a story, but these stories are all true - based on painstaking and ingenious research.
I learnt a lot from this book, and anticipate using it often as a valuable resource.
I learnt a lot from this book, and anticipate using it often as a valuable resource.
Loved this! Very interesting. I had no idea how intricate very early weaving could be. The book gives an excellent overview of social history, too. It's astonishing how much time the preparation of clothing used to take. When you can buy a $5 t-shirt at Old Navy, you don't realize the amount of effort it used to take to keep oneself and one's family clothed.
Another excellent book by Ms. Barber.
The book started off with info about string skirts - worn by women when they were ready to have children as a sign of fertility. I was standing on the subway platform, waiting for the train, and I saw a women with a purse with long fringe hanging at her hips - and I thought, string skirt.
The book started off with info about string skirts - worn by women when they were ready to have children as a sign of fertility. I was standing on the subway platform, waiting for the train, and I saw a women with a purse with long fringe hanging at her hips - and I thought, string skirt.
Jan 31, 2012
Sue Lyssa Stone Shaffer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
all-time-favorites,
cultural-anthropology
An amazing read. WW deals with the roles of textiles & women during our pre & early history. The data is well researched & analyzed. The format of presentation is an easy read, never dry, never forced. Ms Barber deserves vast oceans of credit for bringing this information to our attention.
Ms Barber's work on linguistics to trace perishable artifacts was fascinating. I cannot wait to read her next book. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Ms Barber's work on linguistics to trace perishable artifacts was fascinating. I cannot wait to read her next book. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Dec 27, 2009
Jessica
is currently reading it
I read approx. 1/2 page before bed every night. Interesting subject but not written in a scholarly-enough tone for my tastes. A lot of is it vague conjecture, but hey, it's about ancient textiles, so I'll take it.
I love this book--very informative and interesting simply for the way the author approaches research. Anyone who wears clothes or uses sheets or towels or any other sort of textiles should read this.
For a scholarly work, it's easy to read. But I fear that might have something to do with not being very rigorous. Anyway, I did learn quite a bit both about women and weaving throughout ancient history, and in an ancillary way about ancient history in general.
Very well researched and engangingly written. I made pages and pages of research notes. It has much more narrative flow than her other book, Prehistoric Textiles.
Elizabeth Barber is a thought provoking and tantalizing example of historical interpretation. Never have I pondered and related to the women of ancient civilizations. The knowledge carried in Women's Work expands a persons basic understanding of life in many civilizations assisted by easily understood charts and sketches. As an aspiring fashion historian I found the book to be provocative and an easy read considering the subject matter. I would recommend this to any women rather they are interes...more
Fascinating book. It was so easy to read, I almost felt guilty reading it during work hours! A very interesting study of women's work in textile production.
Jan 30, 2012
Nick Fagerlund
added it
I came across this book in someone's (I think it may have been Jo Walton's) list of fuel for SF/F worldbuilding. It seemed interesting! And besides, I knew shit-all about the fiber arts, which suddenly seemed like a major oversight in my education. (About a week later, I got a job at a yarn shop. My life is hilarious.)
The book is light on the big fancy theses and heavy on the fascinating details and unexpected connections. It's basically a history of textile technology, and given the importance...more
The book is light on the big fancy theses and heavy on the fascinating details and unexpected connections. It's basically a history of textile technology, and given the importance...more
This is an incredible book. The author uses new methods for studying the past, including linguistics. She looks at linen vs. wool production; early dyes and early looms. She talks about women weaving in Homer's epics. Fascinating.
I've shelved this under reference, but it one of the few scholarly books which I have read from cover to cover.
Amazingly detailed work on fiber, textiles and the importance of "women's work" and why it was designated as such. This is the fun read of Barber's scholarly book on textiles. A great book!
History of textile work with speculation about women's life in prehistoric times. Thorough research.
This is the only history book I've read more than once. (And I will probably read it again.)
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Barber received her PhD university from Yale in 1968.
More about Elizabeth Wayland Barber...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Feb 02, 2013 08:57am