Women's Work
The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times
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Women's Work
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Narrated by:
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Donna Postel
About this listen
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 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 323
Esteemed Egyptologist Barbara Mertz updates her widely praised social history of the people of ancient Egypt, which was originally published in 1968. Combining impeccable scholarship with a delightfully personal style, the author reconstructs the life of the Egyptians from birth to death, and beyond death, too.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant
- By Elizabeth on 04-03-10
By: Barbara Mertz
-
How to Be a Tudor
- A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life
- By: Ruth Goodman
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 572
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 490
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 481
On the heels of her triumphant How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman travels even further back in English history to the era closest to her heart, the dramatic period from the crowning of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I. Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Tudor conditions, Goodman serves as our intrepid guide to 16th-century living. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of those who labored through the era.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent book!
- By Kathi on 02-18-16
By: Ruth Goodman
-
The Fabric of Civilization
- How Textiles Made the World
- By: Virginia I. Postrel
- Narrated by: Caroline Cole
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 193
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Pop journalism article lengthened into a book
- By Anonymous User on 02-05-22
-
Children of Ash and Elm
- A History of the Vikings
- By: Neil Price
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,476
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,273
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,268
The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By Than on 10-06-20
By: Neil Price
-
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,264
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,943
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,933
Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Detailed, Interesting and Entertaining
- By Marc-Andr? on 05-13-10
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The Age of the Vikings
- By: Anders Winroth
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 235
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 214
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 211
The Vikings maintain their grip on our imagination, but their image is too often distorted by medieval and modern myth. It is true that they pillaged, looted, and enslaved. But they also settled peacefully and developed a vast trading network. They traveled far from their homelands in swift and sturdy ships, not only to raid, but also to explore. Despite their fearsome reputation, the Vikings didn’t wear horned helmets, and even the infamous berserkers were far from invincible.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting history. Narrator could be better
- By Castle51 on 07-09-15
By: Anders Winroth
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Red
- A History of the Redhead
- By: Jacky Colliss Harvey
- Narrated by: Jacky Colliss Harvey
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 168
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 151
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
Red is a brilliantly told, captivating history of red hair throughout the ages. An audiobook that breaks new ground, dispels myths, and reinforces the special nature of being a redhead, with a look at multiple disciplines, including science, religion, politics, feminism and sexuality, literature, and art. With an obsessive fascination that is as contagious as it is compelling, author Jacky Colliss Harvey (herself a redhead) begins her exploration of red hair in prehistory and traces the redhead gene as it made its way out of Africa with the early human diaspora.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Pushing Past Stereotypes
- By Troy on 06-09-15
-
The Phoenicians
- A Captivating Guide to the History of Phoenicia and the Impact Made by One of the Greatest Trading Civilizations of the Ancient World
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L. Walton
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
The Phoenicians remain one of the most enigmatic ancient civilizations, with historians and scholars prone to speculation and educated guesses. Although many Greek, Roman, and Egyptian writers reference the Phoenicians in trade records, military battles, and artistic transactions, few records were left by the original Phoenicians themselves, leaving modern scholars to fill in the blanks through educated guesses and material culture.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Very educational
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-20
-
The Scythians
- Nomad Warriors of the Steppe
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 160
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
The Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Well researched but narrator is terrible
- By John M. on 01-17-21
By: Barry Cunliffe
-
The Vikings
- A New History
- By: Neil Oliver
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 432
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 377
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 375
Drawing on the latest discoveries that have only recently come to light, Scottish archaeologist Neil Oliver goes on the trail of the real Vikings. Where did they emerge from? How did they really live? And just what drove them to embark on such extraordinary voyages of discovery over 1,000 years ago? The Vikings: A New History explores many of those questions for the first time in an epic story of one of the world's great empires of conquest.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Intriguing for a broad audience.
- By Grant on 08-07-18
By: Neil Oliver
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Who Was King Tut?
- By: Roberta Edwards
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Ever since Howard Carter uncovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the young pharaoh has become a symbol of the wealth and mystery of ancient Egypt. This Who Was...? explains the life and times of this ancient Egyptian ruler, covering the story of the tomb’s discovery, as well as myths and so-called mummy curses.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Side bars Not Read - Timeline too!
- By Nicole West on 10-21-23
By: Roberta Edwards
-
River Kings
- A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads
- By: Cat Jarman
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
Three years ago, a Carnelian bead came into Catrine Jarman's temporary possession. River Kings sees her trace the path of this ancient piece of jewelry back to eighth-century Baghdad and India, discovering along the way that the Vikings' route was far more varied than we might think—that with them came people from the Middle East, and that the reason for this unexpected integration between the Eastern and Western worlds may well have been a slave trade running through the Silk Road, all the way to Britain.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Like school
- By Amazon Customer on 09-08-24
By: Cat Jarman
-
Mesoamerican Mythology
- Fascinating Myths and Legends of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and Monster from the Ancient Maya, Inca and Aztec Mythology
- By: Simon Lopez
- Narrated by: Neil Hamilton
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Do you know that the Mayans believed that the Earth was flat with four poles supporting the sky? Or that the Inca Emperors were thought to be the direct descendant of the sun god himself? The early Mesoamericans were a mysterious bunch. In this audiobook we will dive deep into their world of Myths and captivating stories of the creation of the world, adventures of heroes and even love stories between goddess and mortal.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Modern Twist
- By A. Capps on 12-27-19
By: Simon Lopez
-
Babylon
- Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
- By: Paul Kriwaczek
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 731
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 625
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 621
Civilization was born 8,000 years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place. In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years ago to the eclipse of Babylon in the sixth century BCE. Bringing the people of this land to life in vibrant detail, the author chronicles the rise and fall of power during this period.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Solid overview 3000 years of history
- By Alsor2000 on 07-19-20
By: Paul Kriwaczek
-
The Story We Carry in Our Bones
- Irish History for Americans
- By: Juilene Osborne-McKnight
- Narrated by: Juilene Osborne-McKnight
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 127
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 116
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 115
More than 40 million people consider themselves Irish American, and yet most of them do not truly understand the rich cultural history of their ancestors. From prehistoric times to the emigration of the Irish to Amerikay, this broad, yet comprehensive, history gives a general overview of the deep history of Irish Americans.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Blown away
- By Bob on 01-27-22
-
At Home
- A Short History of Private Life
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,499
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,745
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,729
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Bryson does it again
- By Robert on 10-15-10
By: Bill Bryson
-
Minoans
- A Captivating Guide to an Essential Bronze Age Society in Ancient Greece Called the Minoan Civilization
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L. Walton
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
The Minoans were an ancient civilization that built their settlements on islands in the Aegean Sea. They lived almost 5,000 years ago and left behind traces of their lives, but not enough for people to create a complete picture. Ever since the early 20th century, the Minoans have been a subject of interest, thanks to the discoveries and excavations by Sir Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist who found the first Minoan ruins and named them after the mythological King Minos and his Minotaur.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Scholarly
- By Kateee on 03-25-20
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The Fabric of Civilization
- How Textiles Made the World
- By: Virginia I. Postrel
- Narrated by: Caroline Cole
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 193
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Pop journalism article lengthened into a book
- By Anonymous User on 02-05-22
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The Golden Thread
- How Fabric Changed History
- By: Kassia St. Clair
- Narrated by: Helen Johns
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 275
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 236
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
From colorful 30,000-year-old threads found on the floor of a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, The Golden Thread weaves an illuminating story of human ingenuity. Design journalist Kassia St. Clair guides us through the technological advancements and cultural customs that would redefine human civilization - from the fabric that allowed mankind to achieve extraordinary things (traverse the oceans and shatter athletic records) and survive in unlikely places (outer space and the South Pole).
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent for those interested in textiles
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-14-19
By: Kassia St. Clair
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Fabric
- The Hidden History of the Material World
- By: Victoria Finlay
- Narrated by: Carla Kissane
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
How is a handmade fabric helping save an ancient forest? Why is a famous fabric pattern from India best known by the name of a Scottish town? How is a Chinese dragon robe a diagram of the whole universe? What is the difference between how the Greek Fates and the Viking Norns used threads to tell our destiny? In Fabric, bestselling author Victoria Finlay spins us round the globe, weaving stories of our relationship with cloth and asking how and why people through the ages have made it, worn it, invented it, and made symbols out of it. And sometimes why they have fought for it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect Book for Needleworking
- By LaVonne on 11-18-23
By: Victoria Finlay
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A Short History of the World According to Sheep
- By: Sally Coulthard
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
From the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the rolling hills of medieval England to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story. Starting with our Neolithic ancestors' first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 10,000 years ago, these remarkable animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and languages, helped us to win wars, decorated our homes and financed the conquest of large swathes of the earth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I couldn't stop talking about sheep after reading
- By Hayley Robertson on 07-19-22
By: Sally Coulthard
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When They Severed Earth from Sky
- How the Human Mind Shapes Myth
- By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber, Paul T. Barber
- Narrated by: Beth Richmond
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, these "myths" did not begin as fiction.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The Volcano Book
- By Stanley on 02-05-11
By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber, and others
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Threads of Life
- A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle
- By: Clare Hunter
- Narrated by: Siobhan Redmond
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
From the political propaganda of the Bayeux Tapestry, World War I soldiers coping with PTSD, and the maps sewn by schoolgirls in the New World, to the AIDS quilt, Hmong story clothes, and pink pussyhats, women and men have used the language of sewing to make their voices heard, even in the most desperate of circumstances. Threads of Life is a chronicle of identity, protest, memory, power, and politics told through the stories of needlework.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Textile bucket list.
- By Amazon Customer on 10-18-21
By: Clare Hunter
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The Fabric of Civilization
- How Textiles Made the World
- By: Virginia I. Postrel
- Narrated by: Caroline Cole
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 193
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Pop journalism article lengthened into a book
- By Anonymous User on 02-05-22
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The Golden Thread
- How Fabric Changed History
- By: Kassia St. Clair
- Narrated by: Helen Johns
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 275
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 236
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
From colorful 30,000-year-old threads found on the floor of a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, The Golden Thread weaves an illuminating story of human ingenuity. Design journalist Kassia St. Clair guides us through the technological advancements and cultural customs that would redefine human civilization - from the fabric that allowed mankind to achieve extraordinary things (traverse the oceans and shatter athletic records) and survive in unlikely places (outer space and the South Pole).
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent for those interested in textiles
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-14-19
By: Kassia St. Clair
-
Fabric
- The Hidden History of the Material World
- By: Victoria Finlay
- Narrated by: Carla Kissane
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
How is a handmade fabric helping save an ancient forest? Why is a famous fabric pattern from India best known by the name of a Scottish town? How is a Chinese dragon robe a diagram of the whole universe? What is the difference between how the Greek Fates and the Viking Norns used threads to tell our destiny? In Fabric, bestselling author Victoria Finlay spins us round the globe, weaving stories of our relationship with cloth and asking how and why people through the ages have made it, worn it, invented it, and made symbols out of it. And sometimes why they have fought for it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect Book for Needleworking
- By LaVonne on 11-18-23
By: Victoria Finlay
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A Short History of the World According to Sheep
- By: Sally Coulthard
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
From the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the rolling hills of medieval England to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story. Starting with our Neolithic ancestors' first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 10,000 years ago, these remarkable animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and languages, helped us to win wars, decorated our homes and financed the conquest of large swathes of the earth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I couldn't stop talking about sheep after reading
- By Hayley Robertson on 07-19-22
By: Sally Coulthard
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When They Severed Earth from Sky
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- By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber, Paul T. Barber
- Narrated by: Beth Richmond
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, these "myths" did not begin as fiction.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The Volcano Book
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Threads of Life
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
From the political propaganda of the Bayeux Tapestry, World War I soldiers coping with PTSD, and the maps sewn by schoolgirls in the New World, to the AIDS quilt, Hmong story clothes, and pink pussyhats, women and men have used the language of sewing to make their voices heard, even in the most desperate of circumstances. Threads of Life is a chronicle of identity, protest, memory, power, and politics told through the stories of needlework.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Textile bucket list.
- By Amazon Customer on 10-18-21
By: Clare Hunter
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Worn
- A People's History of Clothing
- By: Sofi Thanhauser
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 77
Sofi Thanhauser brilliantly tells five stories—Linen, Cotton, Silk, Synthetics, Wool—about the clothes we wear and where they come from, illuminating our world in unexpected ways. She takes us from the opulent court of Louis XIV to the labor camps in modern-day Chinese-occupied Xinjiang. We see how textiles were once dyed with lichen, shells, bark, saffron, and beetles, displaying distinctive regional weaves and knits, and how the modern Western garment industry has refashioned our attire into the homogenous and disposable uniforms popularized by fast-fashion brands.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Horrors of the industrial revolution Continued
- By Susan on 01-28-22
By: Sofi Thanhauser
-
The Dancing Goddesses
- By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber
- Narrated by: Julia Farhat
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 18
-
Performance2.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 16
From southern Greece to northern Russia, people have long believed in female spirits, bringers of fertility, who spend their nights and days dancing in the fields and forests. So appealing were these spirit-maidens that they also took up residence in 19th-century Romantic literature. Archaeologist and linguist by profession, folk dancer by avocation, Elizabeth Wayland Barber has sleuthed through ethnographic lore and archaeological reports of east and southeast Europe, translating enchanting folktales about these "dancing goddesses" as well as eyewitness accounts of traditional rituals - texts that offer new perspectives on dance in agrarian society.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible narration
- By ECNB on 11-07-20
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Dress Codes
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- By: Richard Thompson Ford
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 25
For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control. Dress codes evolved along with the social and political ideals of the day, but they always reflected struggles for power and status.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Unlistenable
- By Lauren on 08-01-23
-
Only the Clothes on Her Back
- Clothing and the Hidden History of Power in the Nineteenth-Century United States
- By: Laura F. Edwards
- Narrated by: Stephanie Richardson
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 12
Only the Clothes on Her Back uncovers practices, commonly known then, but now long forgotten, which made textiles - clothing, cloth, bedding, and accessories, such as shoes and hats - a unique form of property that people without rights could own and exchange. The value of textiles depended on law, and it was law that turned these goods into a secure form of property for marginalized people, who not only used these textiles as currency, credit, and capital, but also as entree into the new republic's economy and governing institutions.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Buy the book
- By Susan on 12-29-22
By: Laura F. Edwards
-
The Age of Homespun
- Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth
- By: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Using objects that Americans have saved through the centuries and stories they have passed along, as well as histories teased from documents, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich chronicles the production of cloth—and of history—in early America. Under the singular and brilliant lens that Ulrich brings to this study, ordinary household goods provide the key to a transformed understanding of cultural encounter, frontier war, Revolutionary politics, international commerce, and early industrialization in America.
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The Valkyries' Loom
- The Archaeology of Cloth Production and Female Power in the North Atlantic
- By: Michèle Hayeur Smith
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3
This groundbreaking study is based on the author's systematic comparative analysis of the vast textile collections in Iceland, Greenland, Denmark, Scotland, and the Faroe Islands, materials that are largely unknown even to archaeologists and span 1,000 years. Through these garments and fragments, Hayeur Smith provides new insights into how the women of these island nations influenced international trade by producing cloth (vaðmál); how they shaped the development of national identities by creating clothing; and how they helped their communities survive climate change.
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5 out of 5 stars
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enligjtening
- By S. Tolleson-Rinehart on 04-29-24
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Silk
- A World History
- By: Aarathi Prasad
- Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
Throughout history, across cultures and countries, silk has reigned as the undeniable queen of fabrics, yet its origins and evolution remain a mystery. In a gorgeous and sweeping narrative, Silk weaves together its intricate story and the indelible mark it has left on humanity.
By: Aarathi Prasad
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Unraveling
- What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater
- By: Peggy Orenstein
- Narrated by: Peggy Orenstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 151
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
The COVID pandemic propelled many people to change their lives in ways large and small. Some adopted puppies. Others stress-baked. Peggy Orenstein, a lifelong knitter, went just a little further. To keep herself engaged and cope with a series of seismic shifts in family life, she set out to make a garment from the ground up: learning to shear sheep, spin and dye yarn, then knitting herself a sweater.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Nailed it!
- By Miss Effie on 02-19-23
By: Peggy Orenstein
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The Domestic Revolution
- How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything
- By: Ruth Goodman
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
No single invention epitomizes the Victorian era more than the black cast-iron range. Aware that the 21st-century has reduced it to a quaint relic, Ruth Goodman was determined to prove that the hot coal stove provided so much more than morning tea: It might even have kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Wielding the wit and passion seen in How to Be a Victorian, Goodman traces the tectonic shift from wood to coal in the mid-16th century - from sooty trials and errors during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to the totally smog-clouded reign of Queen Victoria.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Zombie Apocalypse
- By PeachPecan on 12-25-20
By: Ruth Goodman
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Women's Work
- A Reckoning with Work and Home
- By: Megan K. Stack
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4 out of 5 stars 33
From National Book Award finalist Megan K. Stack, a stunning memoir of raising her children abroad with the help of Chinese and Indian women who are also working mothers....
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2 out of 5 stars
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Almost insightful...but not quite
- By Sandra Mizumoto Posey on 05-08-19
By: Megan K. Stack
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Gangsters vs. Nazis
- How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America
- By: Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 141
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst. Gangland-style.
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4 out of 5 stars
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What, you couldn’t find one culturally Jewish narrator?
- By Deborah Bancroft on 12-29-22
By: Michael Benson
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Eye of the Beholder
- Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing
- By: Laura Snyder
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4 out of 5 stars 46
"See for yourself!" was the clarion call of the 1600s. Natural philosophers threw off the yoke of ancient authority, peered at nature with microscopes and telescopes, and ignited the scientific revolution. Artists investigated nature with lenses and created paintings filled with realistic effects of light and shadow. The hub of this optical innovation was the small Dutch city of Delft.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Historical book about the evolution of optics through the eyes of two geniuses
- By Memi on 04-12-17
By: Laura Snyder
What listeners say about Women's Work
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Chantelle Wood
- 12-07-20
Wonderful information, fresh, informative,
A great building block for history and a fresh take on processing information via a holistic approach.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- fiberflair
- 02-23-21
Respectful treatment of the archeological record.
Dedication to rigorous innovative archeological technique rather than innovative speculation makes this compelling. Well Done!
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amanda M.
- 01-12-24
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!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A.B. Normal
- 07-24-20
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.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Victoria Levy
- 11-30-22
Highly recommend great history lesson
Interesting material with a defined storyline easy to follow. Narration was excellent. Fabric history at its finest.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ginny Ellsworth
- 05-25-20
Simply Wonderful.
I have this book in print as well. Fascinating history of women and their relationship to textiles.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 03-28-21
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!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lacy Phillips
- 10-01-21
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. R. Covington
- 06-14-23
Dense and satisfying
I appreciate the scholarly facts and the delightful story-telling style of this book. The narrator is excellent.
R
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Karen Ibarra
- 06-30-24
How interwoven into all history is
The details of women’s life thru time and the supporting evidence along with how details of how it was uncovered
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