The Book:
No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by Anne McDonald
What's it about:
This book is a look at knitting history in America from colonial times to the 20th century. Amazon.com describes the book as "Drawn from diaries, letters and personal reminiscences, No Idle Hands tells an intimate and sometimes hair-raising story of hand knitting in America from Colonial times onward. Women knit through the hardships of covered wagon travel across the West. They knit to save their husbands and sons from freezing to death on battlefields. Shell-shocked men knit to save their sanity in hospitals during both world wars. No Idle Hands documents the importance knitting has had in American life."
Why you should read it:
I will admit that I love books about knitting. I don't knit but I love to read about it. This book is wonderful in that it focuses on an aspect of everyday life for women. I love the author's introduction where she talks about how her father thought social history was "twaddle." Social history is so important to genealogy and this is one great example of it.
Additional resources:
- Gena's Genealogy. Women's Research Resource. Knitting Social History
- Gena's Pinterest Board. War Knitting
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