Giorgio Riello

Overall, an interesting read. The author has used cotton and cotton fabric to illustrate a period of global modernization. I was a little disappointed that, as the title might suggest, that the book was not a history of the commodity. Cotton was the vehicle used to detail an economic history. I did enjoy the very Indo-Anglo centric story of trade and colonization and the many fascinating stories about fabric. My favorite was that much information concerning fabrics worn by the lower classes show more in the 1740's was obtained from a book containing samples of clothing from infants left in an London orphanage. Another interesting observation made is that the more connected the world becomes the more disparity between the rich and poor. ..an observation with present day pertinence. The author does a fine job of staying on topic, but I did find the writing, beginning with the preface, to be exhaustive. Elizabeth Gaskell's novel North and South has been on my to- be-read list for years. I am bumping it up near the top after reading Cotton! show less

I have downloaded this book to my kindle fire. The kindle version is fine except for some random differences in font sizes at certain points, especially where the maps are supposed to be. Indeed there are no maps at all on my kindle version that I can see, a great pity for this book in particular.
The books content more than makes up for this, however being as it is
very well written, academically rigorous and yet readable by the layman such as myself.

The books content more than makes up for show more this, however.
Very well written, academically rigorous and yet readable by the layman such as myself.
This review is linked to the library thing website where I am a member. show less