The Fabric of Civilization

How Textiles Made the World

By: Virginia Postrel

Hardcover

Published: 27 January 2021 

ISBN: 9781541617605 

From Paleolithic flax to 3D knitting, this book documents a global history of textiles and the world they made. 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 archaeologists, economists and scientists to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt to Romans adorned in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade defined early trade relationships and continues to inform many aspects of society. 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.