The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World - Virginia Postrel

Written by Virginia Postrel
Read by Caroline Cole
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 9hrs 43min
Publisher: OrangeSky Audio

The story of humanity is the story of textiles—as old as civilization itself. Since the first thread was spun, the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture.

In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel synthesizes groundbreaking research from archaeology, economics, and science to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to Romans arrayed in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade paved the crossroads of the ancient world. Textiles funded the Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; they gave us banks and bookkeeping, Michelangelo’s David and the Taj Mahal. The cloth business spread the alphabet and arithmetic, propelled chemical research, and taught people to think in binary code.

“…She chronicles the histories of fiber, thread, cloth, and dye, as well as the “social technologies” (trade agreements, laws, standards, etc.) that allowed merchants, consumers, and innovators to pursue their commercial and scientific goals with fabric. She notes the massive amounts of cloth required to outfit Viking ships and Roman soldiers, documents the building of a cotton empire on the backs of enslaved people in the American South, and details how financial innovations that emerged from the textile trade helped to lay the foundation of the modern banking industry. Postrel also probes the history of textile technologies, including the selective breeding of plants and insects that yield natural fiber, and the invention of synthetic polymer fabrics like nylon. Discussions of traditional Laotian silk brocades and the chemistry behind the microfibers in an Under Armour garment, among other innovations, demystify these processes and highlight human ingenuity and artistry. There are some noteworthy gaps, however, particularly when it comes to the textile industry and labor issues. Still, this is an engrossing and illuminating portrait of the essential role fabric has played in human history.”—PW