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46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, March 1, 2008
I had such high hopes for this book. There are not that many books that look at knitting from a historical perspective, and this one promised to do so with lots of illustrations. Unfortunately, the writer's credibility as a serious historian is lost on the first page when she states that the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia did not last and moves on to Massachusetts as the locale of the first permanent English settlement in America. Any child in elementary school in America would recognize that this is just wrong. Jamestown was indeed the first permanent English settlement in America and continued to thrive for many years after its establishment. I was left baffled--did she confuse Jamestown with the Roanoke Island, North Carolina colony from the 16th Century that did not survive--and how could her editors not catch this glaring error on the first page of text? Notwithstanding this serious and very basic historical error, I decided to muscle on through the book. The remainder of the book, while written in serviceable prose, could never be described as engaging and certainly not entertaining. And I can't say much for her scholarship, which seems to consist mostly of having looked at a lot of commercially published pattern books through the 20th Century and deducing what she thinks knitting was all about from those. Most of the illustrations come from these commercial pattern books as well. Finally, this book has no serious chops as a pattern book--it doesn't include any pattern after WWII and, as another reviewer has indicated, provides no insight to a modern reader or knitter on how to interpret the early 20th century patterns, which are written very differently than modern patterns. All in all a disappointment--not a good history book, not a good overview of knitting as a cultural, historical or social phenomenon, not a very good coffee table book and certainly not a very good pattern book.
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31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
OUTSTANDING SURPRISE!!, October 5, 2007
I bought "Knitting America" after reading a brief description of the book. Thinking that this would be "interesting" I ordered it. It arrived yesterday and the minute I opened the box I was struck by the weight and size of the book. I instantly knew this was not just "another book on knitting". THEN I opened the book!!! This book is RICH in history with stories, illustrations and vintage patterns. The details held in this book exceeds anything I could have imagined. I have read the first half of this book and I am finding that the outstanding writing literally takes you back in time. In today's world where we live such a considerable easy, soft life then to be taken back and live the colonial and pioneer days on these pages and imagine how exhausting and trying the men and women of that era had it. The strength and stamina being able to knit for family and friends for the need of warmth and the giving selflessly of their time. Bartering their knitted wares for food and supplies after knitting what the family would need to get them through winter. The story of the elderly knitter that knitted over 300 pairs of socks for soldiers during the Civil War..... This book will warm your heart, give you a sense of intense pride in the knitters before you who through their stories and craft give you a stronger tie to your own family heritage. The stories on these pages will surely feed your soul. You will not just be happy in having this book as part of your collection, you'll TREASURE it.
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50 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but not for scholars or beginners, November 12, 2007
I ordered this book thinking that it might be a well-researched history of knitting, offering insight into how the times affected the necessity or pleasure of home knitting. Sadly, this is not that book. It does have lots of amusing reproductions of period advertisements and a variety of historical patterns that you might want to make yourself. You will need to be an experienced knitter to do so, since there are no basic instructions for the novice. Hopefully you will have a knitting granny nearby who can get you started. There is no glossary of knitting terms, either, so unless you are familiar with terms like "fulling the wool" you may not understand some of the references. While there is an appendix of sources, it is difficult to tell where in the book these references are cited, so if you're looking for a definitive history, this is not the book for you. As the author strolled through historical periods, I had hoped for more insight into how knitting reflected current society. There was a bit of that during the WW period, but frankly, I could have learned as much from a period movie about the home front. If you look forward to lots of pictures of yarn advertisements through the ages, then this is the book for you. They are abundant and well-reproduced. If you are looking for meaning based on scholarly research or in-depth exploration of how knitting reflected various historical moments including modern artists, then you should look elsewhere.
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