On "Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World": A Book Review

 

Title: Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World
Author: Victoria Finlay
Genre: Non-Fiction

About the Book...
In Fabric, Victoria Finlay delves into the world of material, offering a survey history of fabrics including barkcloth, cotton, wool, linen, and silk, and highlighting their significance through time and around the globe.

What I Think...
This was a great book that, despite being a little over 400 pages, I managed to breeze through in about a week! 

A lot of information was packed into this and it is really so much more than just the history of a small selection of fabrics. In this book Finlay explores not just the making of the fabric, but the human element behind them and their sociological impact on the world and individual cultures, not just the economical side of things. She really explores the people involved in making them, both those who have been involved in the process for years and those working to learn the skill, the emotional elements that are tied into the process, and the shifting views on the particular fabric over time in the places it is/was made.  

I loved that much of Finlay's research, in addition to the more standard historical writing, involved going to places significant to the development or production of the fabrics and getting a deeper understanding through a hands-on approach. The first chapter, for example, which focuses on barkcloth, involved her traveling Papa New Guineaand living with a tribe that makes barkcloth. Additionally, I liked how she looks at individual pieces made from the fabric and what they reveal about its history. 

Woven throughout the histories is Finlay's own connection to the fabrics and her reflections on what they mean to her personally. Much of this was tied into her grieving and trying to process the loss of both her parents in a short time. This added a bittersweet element, but one that I feel added a level of richness to the book as a whole.  

To Sum it All Up...
A thoughtful and fascinating exploration of various fabric types and their history, infused with warmth and feeling. ♥