Plumes
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Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce
Sarah Abrevaya Stein
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Format: PaperPrice: $22.00
An unexpected and fascinating examination of the vanished Jewish trade in ostrich feathers, which thrived on three continents
The thirst for exotic ornament among fashionable women in the metropoles of Europe and America prompted a bustling global trade in ostrich feathers that flourished from the 1880s until the First World War. When feathers fell out of fashion with consumers, the result was an economic catastrophe for many, a worldwide feather bust. In this remarkable book, Sarah Stein draws on rich archival materials to bring to light the prominent and varied roles of Jews in the feather trade. She discovers that Jews fostered and nurtured the trade across the global commodity chain and throughout the far-flung territories where ostriches were reared and plucked, and their feathers were sorted, exported, imported, auctioned, wholesaled, and finally manufactured for sale.
From Yiddish-speaking Russian-Lithuanian feather handlers in South Africa to London manufacturers and wholesalers, from rival Sephardic families whose feathers were imported from the Sahara and traded across the Mediterranean, from New York’s Lower East Side to entrepreneurial farms in the American West, Stein explores the details of a remarkably vibrant yet ephemeral culture. This is a singular story of global commerce, colonial economic practices, and the rise and fall of a glamorous luxury item.
"Sarah Abrevaya Stein's meticulously researched Plumes is delightfully intriguing in its detail—a forgotten page of Jewish history that shows the lengths enterprising people will go to for a difficult but profitable niche market."—Mark Kurlansky, author of SALT: A World History
"Stein's book is fascinating (who knew there was an ostrich-feather bubble?) as well as prescient (over-reliance on credit, neglecting to diversify your assets, the belief that a commodity will never, ever lose value—sounds vaguely familiar). And she maintains that tricky balance between engrossing historical narrative and cultural theory. . . . [Plumes] also gives us an economic parable, a morally complex narrative and lends some gravity to one of the most deceptively airy fashion trends."—Raquel Laneri, Forbes.com
"Assorted histories—world, fashion, economic, Jewish—converge in this fluent account of an esoteric trade and its far-flung principals."—The Atlantic
“I loved this book. I knew nothing about the subject, but Sarah Stein … kept me going right to the last page … her comprehensive, meticulous, and fascinating history … [is] a vast subject, which she admirably outlines in straightforward language … a terrific [story].”
Jonathan Mirksy, Literary Review, March 2009
“I loved this book. I knew nothing about the subject, but Sarah Stein … kept me going right to the last page … her comprehensive, meticulous, and fascinating history … [is] a vast subject, which she admirably outlines in straightforward language … a terrific [story].” - Jonathan Mirsky, Literary Review
“It is impossible to read this story of boom and bust without drawing on parallels to today’s market: Stein lucidly analyses how a single global commodity was shaped by modern consumer desires, and how it was destroyed almost overnight by a sudden shift in fashion.” - Judith Flanders, Sunday Telegraph
‘Stein follows the path of the feathers from South Africa to the sorting houses and manufacturers of London and New York … and … discusses in some detail the working life of the young women and girls who prepared the feathers for sale … She makes interesting points about the origins and rise of the South African trade and explains the consequent decline of the market from the north African ports of Tripoli, Benghazi and Essouaria.’ - Prudence Hone, Guardian
Publication Date: September 28, 2010
17 b/w illus + 1 map
