Off the Bookshelf

Aprons

Running Press, 128 pp., $24.95

To think of aprons is to recall TV sitcom moms in all their crystalline 1950s glory. True, aprons reached their heyday in mid 20th-century America, but as Joyce Cheney explains in her new book, this simple piece of cloth fastened with two ties dates much farther back -- to Assyrian priests and Egyptian rulers, who wore jewel-encrusted aprons, often to designate a particular rank. Cheney also posits that aprons have much to tell us about our own culture; they serve as unique emblems of American life and the struggle for Home Sweet Home. All sides of the apron debate are addressed: Are aprons touchstones to the American dream of lighted streets on quiet nights or are they more complex, a women's voice when women had no political voice? Or is it just real nice to be able to wipe the barbeque sauce on one of them instead of on your Sunday best? Cheney provides a breakdown of the form and function of these little darlings, from novelty to ceremonial to obets d'art, showing multiple varieties and providing detailed description and rich photography. Aprons invites us to tie one on.