Virginia Postrel
Virginia Postrel (pron. PAH-STRELL) is an author, columnist, and speaker whose work spans a broad range of topics, from social science to fashion, concentrating on the intersection of culture, commerce, and technology. Writing in Vanity Fair, Sam Tanenhaus described her as "a master D.J. who sequences the latest riffs from the hard sciences, the social sciences, business, and technology, to name only a few sources." Her next book The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World, will be published November 10 by Basic Books. It examines the development of technology, industry, and commerce through the history of textiles, from prehistoric times to the near future. Research for the book is supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Program for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics. She has been a guest scholar at the Centre for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen.
