{"product_id":"the-needles-eye-marla-r-miller-9781558495456","title":"The Needle's Eye: Women and Work in the Age of Revolution","description":"Among the enduring stereotypes of early American history has been the colonial Goodwife, perpetually spinning, sewing, darning, and quilting, answering all of her family's textile needs. But the Goodwife of popular historical imagination obscures as much as she reveals; the icon appears to explain early American women's labor history while at the same time allowing it to go unexplained. Tensions of class and gender recede, and the largest artisanal trade open to early American women is obscured in the guise of domesticity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this book, Marla R. Miller illuminates the significance of women's work in the clothing trades of the early Republic. Drawing on diaries, letters, reminiscences, ledgers, and material culture, she explores the contours of working women's lives in rural New England, offering a nuanced view of their varied ranks and roles--skilled and unskilled, black and white, artisanal and laboring--as producers and consumers, clients and craftswomen, employers and employees. By plumbing hierarchies of power and skill, Miller explains how needlework shaped and reflected the circumstances of real women's lives, at once drawing them together and setting them apart. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe heart of the book brings into focus the entwined experiences of six women who lived in and around Hadley, Massachusetts, a thriving agricultural village nestled in a bend in the Connecticut River about halfway between the Connecticut and Vermont borders. Miller's examination of their distinct yet overlapping worlds reveals the myriad ways that the circumstances of everyday lives positioned women in relationship to one another, enlarging and limiting opportunities and shaping the trajectories of days, years, and lifetimes in ways both large and small. \u003ci\u003eThe Needle's Eye\u003c\/i\u003e reveals not only how these women thought about their work, but how they thought about their world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Marla R. Miller\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1558495452\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781558495456\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Massachusetts Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/16\/2006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.16h x 6.32w x 0.89d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUniv PR Books for Public Libry\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2007 pg. 1 - Strongly Recommended\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReference and Research Bk News\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2007 pg. 112","brand":"Marla R. Miller","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43939624452351,"sku":"9781558495456","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_102e9d99-2ebe-4455-98e8-93df16048244.jpg?v=1681442579","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-needles-eye-marla-r-miller-9781558495456","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}