The Fabric of Civilization
How Textiles Made the World
Basic Books · Print & ebook · December 7, 2021
“A journey as epic, and varying, as the Silk Road itself...[The Fabric of Civilization is] like a swatch of a Florentine Renaissance brocade: carefully woven, the technique precise, the colors a mix of shade and shine and an accurate representation of the whole cloth” (The New York Times) The story of humanity is the story of textiles―as old as civilization itself.
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- Who it’s for
- A brisk, idea-rich history of how textiles quietly shaped the world.
- Genres
- Civilizations, Fashion & Textiles Business, Textiles & Polymers
- Published
- Basic Books, December 7, 2021
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“A journey as epic, and varying, as the Silk Road itself...[The Fabric of Civilization is] like a swatch of a Florentine Renaissance brocade: carefully woven, the technique precise, the colors a mix of shade and shine and an accurate representation of the whole cloth” (The New York Times) 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.
Continue reading
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. Assiduously researched and deftly narrated, The Fabric of Civilization tells the story of the world's most influential commodity.
Textiles, Everywhere
A brisk, idea-rich history of how textiles quietly shaped the world.
Come here for
- textiles as a lens on history, business, politics
- career-minded curiosity with cultural reach
Expect
- wide-angle history without museum dust
- smart connections across work, trade, and power
Where it sits
| Fashion & Textiles Business | 34% |
|---|---|
| Civilizations | 32% |
| Textiles & Polymers | 25% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Fashion & Textiles Business
- Ancient History
- Western European History
- World History
Show all 6 publisher categories
- Byzantine History
- Textiles & Polymers
- Authors
- Virginia Postrel
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- Published
- December 7, 2021
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Fashion & Textiles Business