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A review by lkedzie
Threads of Empire by Dorothy Armstrong
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
As an aficionado of 'A History of X in Y Z's' - A History of Venezuela in 5 Candelabras, A History of Finance in 9 Libraries; A History of Distilling in 12 Steps - this book stands out.
First, it puts as much emphasis on the artifact as the process. It is about who made the carpets and how. This looks at people ignored in Horses and Trumpets history, but also includes them when relevant. Mostly, it cuts through lies and marketing. One of the features of Orientalism remains that what was hated was also what was desired, and so the contortions around understanding the meaning and provenance of different carpets was (and is) a significant effort, even if innocent.
Second, it is not a global history as much as an imperial history. This is what I suspect will draw the most flak to the book. It is not 'the world' as it is strictly Eurasian in scope. But it is always Eurasian, reaching Japan at one point, as the carpet is the product of a small group of cultures amidst East and West that acquired its cache through export to East and West, but also between East and West. You could take the carpet out of this history. It would be weird, but it would still be a great survey on empires. But with a focus on this one trade good, we get concrete examples of the complexity of empire, as different powers trade, plunder, and destroy carpets. And complexity is the key there. No empire stands alone, and they are always in contact and conversation. All uses of imperial power are abuses, but some are more benign than others. Thus, someone is going to be upset about "world" not being global and about textiles elsewhere, and someone is going to be upset about a contemporary take on imperialism that challenges its charm and its color. Whatever. If you are like me, this is how you wish it was taught. Presumably you can hit up the bibliography if you want something different.
Third, it is never linear. There is some chronology, but the story here of each of the objects requires linear study. Each chapter throws us back to the beginning, learning about something new or a facet that was mentioned previously but not explored. This is where the material history is allowed to shine. Each chapter has the feeling of a favorite short story where you find more things in it each reading. There is only one chapter where this fails, and that has to do with the narrative being too much of its own story to fit within the confines of the frame. The point is not a singular line of history but several that work through comparison, with different facts and themes reinforcing the other chapters.
Fourth, the carpet itself is a compelling thing to focus on. It is the perfect sort of item for a material history in its odd status as a bifurcated object. Even unto today it exists as something of both high art and of low culture, its function and beauty linked in a manner that I cannot say about a lot of other goods. So we have a sort of intuitive grasp of them as a thing, which the author only goes to emphasize in providing that initial sense of context of each of the carpets. (In other words, I too would be devastated to learn it was not a dowry.)
Overall, a stellar read. Other than being extremely informative. It clarifies lots of errant wrongness in conventional wisdom without being iconoclastic or confrontational. It presents history as a consistent interaction of cultures. And it is specialized enough of a field that the scholars and others involved feel more like characters in fiction, since the same ones reappear and we get to see them develop in different ways. And all of this without any slack in the value as scholarship.
My thanks to the author, Dorothy Armstrong, for writing the book, and to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for making the ARC available to me.
First, it puts as much emphasis on the artifact as the process. It is about who made the carpets and how. This looks at people ignored in Horses and Trumpets history, but also includes them when relevant. Mostly, it cuts through lies and marketing. One of the features of Orientalism remains that what was hated was also what was desired, and so the contortions around understanding the meaning and provenance of different carpets was (and is) a significant effort, even if innocent.
Second, it is not a global history as much as an imperial history. This is what I suspect will draw the most flak to the book. It is not 'the world' as it is strictly Eurasian in scope. But it is always Eurasian, reaching Japan at one point, as the carpet is the product of a small group of cultures amidst East and West that acquired its cache through export to East and West, but also between East and West. You could take the carpet out of this history. It would be weird, but it would still be a great survey on empires. But with a focus on this one trade good, we get concrete examples of the complexity of empire, as different powers trade, plunder, and destroy carpets. And complexity is the key there. No empire stands alone, and they are always in contact and conversation. All uses of imperial power are abuses, but some are more benign than others. Thus, someone is going to be upset about "world" not being global and about textiles elsewhere, and someone is going to be upset about a contemporary take on imperialism that challenges its charm and its color. Whatever. If you are like me, this is how you wish it was taught. Presumably you can hit up the bibliography if you want something different.
Third, it is never linear. There is some chronology, but the story here of each of the objects requires linear study. Each chapter throws us back to the beginning, learning about something new or a facet that was mentioned previously but not explored. This is where the material history is allowed to shine. Each chapter has the feeling of a favorite short story where you find more things in it each reading. There is only one chapter where this fails, and that has to do with the narrative being too much of its own story to fit within the confines of the frame. The point is not a singular line of history but several that work through comparison, with different facts and themes reinforcing the other chapters.
Fourth, the carpet itself is a compelling thing to focus on. It is the perfect sort of item for a material history in its odd status as a bifurcated object. Even unto today it exists as something of both high art and of low culture, its function and beauty linked in a manner that I cannot say about a lot of other goods. So we have a sort of intuitive grasp of them as a thing, which the author only goes to emphasize in providing that initial sense of context of each of the carpets. (In other words, I too would be devastated to learn it was not a dowry.)
Overall, a stellar read. Other than being extremely informative. It clarifies lots of errant wrongness in conventional wisdom without being iconoclastic or confrontational. It presents history as a consistent interaction of cultures. And it is specialized enough of a field that the scholars and others involved feel more like characters in fiction, since the same ones reappear and we get to see them develop in different ways. And all of this without any slack in the value as scholarship.
My thanks to the author, Dorothy Armstrong, for writing the book, and to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for making the ARC available to me.