Review by Choice Review
In Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World, Finlay (independent scholar) uses personal narrative and world history to guide readers on an engaging trip through the world of fabric. Each of the book's 11 chapters uses agriculture, manufacturing, science, technology, fashion, myth, and politics to explore a specific fiber/cloth's influence and global impact, helping readers situate each fiber/cloth's historical context. The book is certainly balanced in its arguments and directly confronts the violence surrounding fabric production; the narrative encourages readers to think more deeply about their relationships to cloth and their collective responsibilities toward ending animal cruelty and supporting human rights and environmental stewardship. Intersecting ideas across chapters provide a flow connected to the overall narrative. Black-and-white images illustrate each chapter, and at the book's center is a small section of color images. The notes are excellent and a museum list and a bibliography provide a wealth of information for reference and deeper research. Because of the book's narrative format, it is an excellent choice for general readers, studio artists, and art history and history students looking for how cloth literally weaves, stitches, and ties human histories and futures together. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students; students in technical programs; professionals; general readers. --Lisa L. Kriner, Berea College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Following her parents' deaths, Finlay travels the world exploring the material and cultural history of fabrics from ancient linens to modern synthetics. She uncovers ecosystems--communities, plants, animals, technologies--that have produced textiles for millennia. "Everything is about balance," she concludes; spinning must keep up with weaving, supply with demand. Imbalances change history. Demand for cotton, for example, spurred the growth of the East India Company, the Industrial Revolution, and the transatlantic slave trade. Initially, Finlay is off-kilter with grief, like a spindle out of balance. Immersion in the people, myths, and tactile experiences of fabrics brings her back to center. Fabric bundles history, travelogue, and memoir, flowing easily between exposition, narrative, and intimate accounts of Finlay's travels and her grief. The writing is authoritative and engaging, packed with memorable vignettes and trivia: for example, seamstresses from a lingerie factory constructed the first NASA spacesuits. In Scotland, Finlay discovers hidden colors and patterns woven into tweed; in Fabric, she reveals dimensions and textures from the material world woven into human history.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Continuing in the tradition of her previous works, Finlay (Color: A Natural History of the Palette; Jewels: A Secret History; The Brilliant History of Color in Art) uses her travels to explore the extraordinarily rich and varied history of textiles across the world. Divided into 11 chapters covering everything from barkcloth in the South Pacific to cotton, wool, pashmina, and more, the book interweaves the rich, detailed history of each type of cloth with stories from the author's investigative travels to the countries and communities that produce these fabrics. Written during a period in Finlay's life when she experienced significant personal loss, the chapters often focus more on her lived experiences and her own explorations than the in-depth history some readers may be looking for. However, these elements, which help the book read like a travel narrative or memoir as opposed to a more straightforward reference volume, also make the book accessible to a wider variety of readers and researchers. Illustrations, photographs, maps, and extensive notes complete the volume. VERDICT A solid addition for any library with a particularly robust fashion or textiles collection.--Whitney Kramer
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