The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is one of my favorite nonfiction authors. Her writing often attempts to illuminate the every day lives of those living in the Northeast region of early America, and this book fit that theme. In it, she explores eleven everyday objects that have survived hundreds of years and uses them to study everyday life, cultural trends, political issues, and many other topics. As with all of her books, the focus is on women's lives, which are often not documented to the same extent as their male counterparts.

One of the tenets of this book is that women's "wealth" was typically in moveable objects: linens, kitchen items, small furniture, items of clothing, and decorative luxuries. Men's wealth was in land, business, and show more education. As such, studying the objects presented in this book is a study of women's lives. The objects studied were created between 1676 and 1837 and include items like an Indian basket, spinning wheels, a pocketbook, a decorative cupboard, a linen tablecloth, and silk embroidery. The items lead to explorations of the settlers interactions with the local Indians (some of the objects are made by Indian women), how women spent their days, what genealogical records leave out about women, the methods of fabric making, spinning as a a political act so as not to rely on England's manufactured goods, and many more topics.

I was interested and excited that there was so much focus on Indian culture (specifically the Abenaki people) in this book, because one of my focuses this year is going to be on reading more books by and about American Indians. This unintentionally fit that category, so it was a good way to start my reading year.

Ulrich's writing won't be for everyone; her style is not the popular narrative nonfiction prevalent today. The writing is scholarly and dense, though I found I got in a pretty good rhythm with it and was able to get immersed in the topic. I suspect her book, [A Midwife's Tale], will always be my favorite, but this is a close second and one I would like to read again some day. There is so much information that it was impossible to absorb it all in one reading.

Original publication date: 2001
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 481 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: off the shelf, favorite author show less

A fascinating look at history as seen through a variety of everyday objects such as an Indian basket, spinning wheels, a decorated cupboard, rugs, coverlets, tablecloths, blankets and more. In a brilliantly written series of vignettes, Ulrich seems to unravel each object strand by strand to show the cultural traditions, anthropological influences and social interactions that explain how the item came to be. Ulrich's knowledge of her subjects' lives seems bottomless and she uses her insights to keep her narrative moving at a lively, richly informative pace. She sklilfully weaves the threads of her research into what amounts to intimate portrait of young America at home during the decades before and after the revolution. This is one of show more the best histories -- of anything -- I've ever read. show less

I wanted something a little meatier than an Eric Sloane book. What I got is a full order of magnitude longer and denser. I did skim the whole thing, as well as read the whole introduction, but I could never find an actual thesis. What is the "American Myth" of the title? Maybe an academic historian like the author would get more out of the book... but maybe not. None of my college readings were anywhere near this dry or difficult.

An enjoyable read. Fascinating artifacts and incredible research behind the stories. Almost every chapter includes something about local Natives! Finally, someone has written Native People back into American History. On a scale of 1-10 she gets a 12 in book book.

This is a very frustrating book. Ulrich attempts to use specific items from early American history to attempt to construct a broader history. These include a rug, a chest and a basket. Unfortunately, the information provided from the items is so sparse that they are essentially useless. Her approach is more of a gimic than an actual methodology. The entire book could have been written without the items. The writing is almost frustrating because Ulrich randomly bounces between a variety of issues with no real connection between them. This is true within chapters as well as across them. I found her earlier work, A Midwife's Tale, very interesting. This one, not so much.

Fascinating, well-written history of early American crafts and early American life.

Interesting history of objects, however, a bit too technical for me. I wouls have enjoyed more stories about the items.