The Material Atlantic: Clothing, Commerce, and Colonization in the Atlantic World, 1650–1800

Abstract

Book Review| May 01 2018 The Material Atlantic: Clothing, Commerce, and Colonization in the Atlantic World, 1650–1800 The Material Atlantic: Clothing, Commerce, and Colonization in the Atlantic World, 1650–1800. By DuPlessis, Robert S.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Plates. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xvii, 351 pp. Cloth, $29.99. Allyson M. Poska Allyson M. Poska University of Mary Washington Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Hispanic American Historical Review (2018) 98 (2): 315–317. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-4377130 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter Email Permissions Search Site Citation Allyson M. Poska; The Material Atlantic: Clothing, Commerce, and Colonization in the Atlantic World, 1650–1800. Hispanic American Historical Review 1 May 2018; 98 (2): 315–317. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-4377130 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsHispanic American Historical Review Search Advanced Search In this expansive history of cloth and clothing norms, Robert DuPlessis demonstrates how early modern trade extended the availability of textiles around the Atlantic world and how its heterogenous population understood and employed them. To construct this commodity history, DuPlessis employs an impressive array of source materials, including probate inventories, commercial records, and advertisements as well as a variety of visual representations. With an eye toward change over time, the inventories and other archival documentation from more than a dozen sites, including Cape Colony, South Africa, Salvador da Bahia, Charleston, and Saint-Domingue, have been sampled from two periods: the last half of the seventeenth century, and 1760 to 1774. Working thematically, DuPlessis reveals an Atlantic in which cloth and clothing moved easily across oceans and imperial borders.He begins by discussing the various understandings of the body, bodily decoration, and fabrics and... Copyright © 2018 by Duke University Press2018 You do not currently have access to this content.