The principle purpose of the anthology is to demonstrate how contemporary material culture studies transcend the often antagonistic divide between researcher who study textile conservation,
design, and museum collections, and those who study the social life of clothing. Anthropologists, most from Britain, explore such topics as the material culture of new fibers, Maori cloaks from
New Zealand, and why there are quilts in Polynesia. Only names are indexed. Distributed in the US by Palgrave Macmillan. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
