Rienzi and Bayou Bend host a history book discussion series about life in America and Europe in the 1700s and 1800s. Meeting alternately at Rienzi and Bayou Bend, this book club offers free discussions each month.

In The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth, Pulitzer Prize winner and Harvard University history professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich uses 14 historic objects as the inspiration for her study of women and textiles in early New England, and the ways in which that history has been retold and used over time. Ulrich weaves many historical strands—from craft technique, to politics and economics, to the history of African Americans and Native Americans—into her narrative, which provides an unprecedented look at women’s lives over 200 years. Today's discussion focuses on chapters 1 and 3–6, touching on other chapters if time allows.

Special guest: Rebecca Goetz, assistant professor of history at Rice University, who studied under Ulrich at Harvard at the time the book was being written and assisted with the research.

For more information, and reserve your seat, call 713.639.7800 or 713.639.7759.