Worn: A People’s History of Clothing

Thanhauser, an artist who teaches writing at the Pratt Institute, debuts with a captivating and deeply researched study of the five main fabrics from which clothing is made: linen, cotton, silk, synthetics, and wool. Positing that “there is scarcely a part of the human experience, historic or current, that the story of clothes does not touch,” Thanhauser spotlights historical periods—such as the brocaded silk courts of France’s King Louis XIV—when each fabric was in vogue, and analyzes the political, cultural, and environmental impacts of their production. For example, she discusses the role of cotton (“the most widespread, profitable nonfood crop in the world”) in the history of American slavery, the colonization of India, and the repression of Muslim Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province, as well as its part in the sixfold increase in overall water consumption during the 20th century. Interweaving eye-popping statistics; immersive descriptions of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, China’s Yangtze River Delta, and other locales; and vivid profiles of historical figures including union organizer Ella May Wiggins and sewing machine manufacturer Isaac Singer, Thanhauser unearths the secret life of fabrics with skill and precision. Readers won’t look at their wardrobes the same way again. (Jan.)