Women's Work

The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times

By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Narrated by: Donna Postel

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

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 extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated newer archaeological methods - methods she herself helped to fashion. In a "brilliantly original book" (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.

©1994 Elizabeth Wayland Barber (P)2019 Tantor

The Distaff Sex weaving Civilization

The origin of civilization told from the view of the women who clothes made it possible.

Wonderful information, fresh, informative,

A great building block for history and a fresh take on processing information via a holistic approach.

Respectful treatment of the archeological record.

Dedication to rigorous innovative archeological technique rather than innovative speculation makes this compelling. Well Done!

Fascinating information!

I was concerned that the age of this book (nearly 30 years) would lead to some obviously outdated information, but other than some mild language, nothing really popped out. Very enjoyable!

If you want to know what women were doing…

while old white men were out creating the world and stealing history, this is (one of) your book(s). Well written, well paced interesting, informative. Nicely done. Makes clear the importance of women’s contribution to the advancement of civilization, even during times when they were enslaved by their spouses and never permitted to leave the house.

Highly recommend great history lesson

Interesting material with a defined storyline easy to follow. Narration was excellent. Fabric history at its finest.

Simply Wonderful.

I have this book in print as well. Fascinating history of women and their relationship to textiles.

I love it

I absolutely love this book. The author does a wonderful job of explaining her topic and making it real and the reader is excellent!

Fascinating But Disorganized

Combines thorough research with some engaging autobiographical storytelling, but it seemed to skip around a lot. The organization appeared to not be based on strict chronology or be a discussion of any one technology/method after another. I'm not sure what the overarching organizational scheme was, but the reading experience suffered because it didn't take a more comprehensible approach.

Dense and satisfying

I appreciate the scholarly facts and the delightful story-telling style of this book. The narrator is excellent.
R