Liar, Bigamist, Brute: How Isaac Singer Liberated Women
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Liar, Bigamist, Brute: How Isaac Singer Liberated Women

2026-01-09

The sewing machine was once thought to be an impossible invention. It was such a complicated contraption that it would take more than one inventor, with more than one good idea, to make it work. Each of these inventors, including the notorious Isaac Singer, wanted the credit (and the fortune that came with it) for themselves. And so began the sewing machine war: a mire of backstabbing, stealing and misogyny.

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