The Age of Homespun
Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth
They began their existence as everyday objects, but in the hands of award-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, fourteen domestic items from preindustrial America–ranging from a linen tablecloth to an unfinished sock–relinquish their stories and offer profound insights into our history.
In an age when even meals are rarely made from scratch, homespun easily acquires the glow of nostalgia. The objects Ulrich investigates unravel those simplified illusions, revealing important clues to the culture and people who made them. Ulrich uses an Indian basket to explore the uneasy coexistence of native and colonial Americans. A piece of silk embroidery reveals racial and class distinctions, and two old spinning wheels illuminate the connections between colonial cloth-making and war. Pulling these divergent threads together,…
$20.00
November 12, 2002
LAUREL THATCHER ULRICH is the author of numerous works on early American history and women's history, including A Midwife's Tale, which won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in History and became the subject of a PBS documentary film. A former MacArthur Fellow and past President of the American Historical Association, she retired from Harvard University in 2018 as 300th Anniversary University Professor. She now lives in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Her online courses "Tangible Things" and "Women Making History" can be found at HarvardX.