Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years

I'm not a weaver. I once tried to spin wool and almost put my eye out. I have a mild interest in anthropology/archeology but, as a woman, this book satisfied a wonderful little niche for knowledge inside me that I didn't even know was empty. It is absolutely fascinating how the authoress explains how traditional jobs(hunting/gathering/herding/weaving/etc.) were sorted out by sheer necessity of gender, ie: women had to stay home to gestate and raise children; men could roam farther away from home and undertake more dangerous tasks. The details and research seem to be plentiful as well as fascinating and it made me imagine the days when a woman was never seen without her spindle in hand, making the thread to produce the cloth that her family would need endlessly. (There is even a tale about a solid gold spindle found by archaeologists.) Just the thought of the amount of work it took to produce a single thread makes me almost swoon at the thought of a person being laid out in yards of cloth just to be buried. If you don't weave, this is a very interesting book. If you are a weaver, you have to read this book from cover to cover and keep it on your bookshelf forever. It's priceless information for any woman/weaver. Update, October 2011: Because of this book, I have started spinning and weaving. I'm rereading the book as I learn how to make my own yarn from wool roving. I feel the connection to all the thousands and thousands of years of spinners that have gone before me. It's amazing how relaxing spinning can be and weaving is equally zen-like. Warping a loom takes a long time but it still makes me feel that connection to all weavers and I find it very calming while I'm doing it. Find a local weavers guild, get this book and get going! You'll love it.

Fascinating. Draws connections I hadn't thought of. The first chapter was especially well-written. I have spun, woven and knitted for many years. The descriptions are clear and accurate.

I ran across this book almost by accident. I was feeling rather glum one day, and I asked my wife to recommend a book for me - something that was out of the ordinary and would cheer me up. She recommended "Women's Work". I was a little skeptical that it would appeal to a techie guy like myself, but soon I was absorbed in Elizabeth Wayland Barber's storytelling. "Women's Work" tells the story of textiles in human history. In nearly every society, spinning, weaving, and sewing have been done almost exclusively by women, so the history of textiles is also a history of women's work - or one important part of it. That's still reflected in our language, for example, when we refer to the "distaff side" - a distaff being a stick used to hold fiber for spinning. Wayland Barber tells her story with with wit and clarity. And more than that, she tells the story of the story - that is, she traces not only what we know about textiles in ancient times, but describes how we know it. So, this is not only a fine history, but it's a fine, readable treatise on historiography as well. I can warmly recommend this book to anyone interested in textiles, or women's history, or how history is written, or who has the blues and just wants to read a darn good book.

I found this book very informative on the subject matter. I am always fascinated by what women made themselves in the past and how it was enmeshed with their daily lives and culture. I enjoy making things, but women of the distant past HAD to make them if they wanted them. Seeing how this worked into their lives with their children, female relatives and friends and how they worked together, really intrigues me. I have not read similar books, so I have no comparison, but the book certainly more than met my expectations and I would recommend it to others who seek this type of information. The author writes in a friendly, casual tone, but certainly provides the detailed documentation you would expect from her credentials. This is both a book for an educational setting (history, women's studies, textiles), as well as for readers with a more casual interest.

So very interesting. The previously unwritten history of half the population

This was a well organized and conveyed history of textiles, why it was a trade primarily done by women and why textiles are so difficult for archeologists to document. I was just as fascinated by the descriptions of how the research had to be creatively done as what the researchers discovered.

As a woman who weaves, though I do not yet consider myself a weaver, I was intrigued by the premise of this book: that with fiber arts, even 20,000 years ago, women were economically important within their societies. Knowing that spinning and weaving are not simple tasks, but finding little information on the economic importance of these activities, I turned to Barber's work, which is well-researched and thoughtful. She writes easily, including photographs and diagrams which further help explain her points. And, kudos, she includes maps!!! Drawing on her own knowledge of and experience with weaving, she sets the work of medieval and early modern women into the history and culture of their times. Readable, accessible, and fascinating: I'm delighted to have run across this book, and recommend it to those interested in the often untold story of the contributions of "women's work" to the economy of their communities.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber is an archaeologist, linguist, textile expert, and a teacher. In this book, she will explain the "humble yet crucial" invention of string, and take you on a tour of the places and people who so brilliantly used that string "in taming the world to human will and ingenuity." Her writing is lucid and full of insight. All stated facts are backed up with extensive sources. I borrowed this book from the library and took adequate notes yet... my notes didn't capture the spirit of the writing: Barber is telling a story that she obviously loves. She brings the lives of the ancients' to life. I wanted to hear her words again, so, a year after reading it the first time, I purchased the book to hear her tell the story again.

I was thoroughly engaged and fascinated by the story of textiles and women's role in their creation. The research methods, using language development, myth and art to track substances too fragile to survive the passage of time were as interesting as the stories they told and I felt the book also went some way to explaining the breadth of appeal textile arts hold for women across the world.The text was accessible without being too populist or condescending to people not from the same academic discipline and added another voice to the validation of recreative research. Actually trying to carry out the tasks undertaken by our ancestors reveals so much.

THis book was a discovery but I realy enjoyed reading it. It is well written, progressing through the history with logic and academic knowledge. What amazed me is the parallel between archaeology and linguistics. E. Barber gives us an in-depth and well-researched analysis of textile history. I would advise this book to the people really interested in the subject.

Brillinat book on how early societies were organised, and how women's work evolved over millennia.

Recomendo!

Easy to read and excellent historical work.