The Golden Thread cover art

The Golden Thread

How Fabric Changed History

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The Golden Thread

By: Kassia St Clair
Narrated by: Helen Johns
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About this listen

As heard on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week

A new history of ingenuity from the author of The Secret Lives of Colour.

From the mummies of Ancient Egypt; via the silken dragon robes of Imperial China and the woollen sails of Viking longboats to the Indian calicoes and chintzes that powered the Industrial Revolution (and sparked more than one war); arriving finally at the lab-blended fibres that have allowed astronauts to moonwalk -- fabrics, manmade and natural, have changed and shaped the world we live in.

In twelve fascinating chapters, Kassia St Clair lays out an alternative history of civilisation and human creativity. Wittily written and compellingly argued, this book will change the way you see the world.

©2018 Kassia St Clair (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Art World Ancient History Ancient Egypt War China Middle Ages Mummy Steampunk Africa

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All stars
Most relevant  
Really enjoyable, and gave me a good few bullets to slapdown naysayers, but a bit of a slog.
Worth sticking with it.

Interesting but slow

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An interesting subject that has been well researched but I couldn’t get on with the narrators voice.

Interesting subject but...

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Fabric explained using historical context - if you enjoy historical non-fiction, I would highly recommend this book. With sections broken down into different materials (cotton, linen etc), the author takes us through a timeline starting in the neolithic and ending in the future of fabric.

Well written and engaging

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Fantastic journey through the history of fabrics through thousands of years.
Such amazing detail and information, I will be referring back to it numerous times in the future no doubt.

Wonderful!

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Whoever was in charge of sound quality (publisher? Audible?) did a huge disservice to this audiobook. The book is fascinating and the reading good, so enjoyed it nonetheless, but it should really be fixed.

Fascinating book, good reader, poor sound quality

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An absolutely fascinating book that tells an important history of textiles which by definition tells of the importance of often relegated women... personally I felt the narrator’s querulous female voice undermined the power of this message.

Important history undermined by narration

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I haven't listened to such a riveting read in a long while. Engaging, well informed and erudite, it kept me listening from start to finish. Well worth it.

Brilliant!

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what a great book. learned so much, taking on subjects that I had no idea about such as spider silk and some places where I had more knowledge such as lace gave me more depth to me knowledge.

really informative and engaging

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A very full coverage of all aspects of textiles, including their sources and usage. Most interesting and inspiring. Some facts seem to be added a touch glibly, but overall there’s no reason to doubt the authenticity of the information.
The voice of the narrator sounds to me as if it were on the point of breaking up all the time, which I found irritating at first, but managed to ignore after a while.

In depth history of Textiles

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This is a wide ranging history of textiles and threads travelling from Egypt to China, Yorkshire to the cotton plantations of the southern USA, Antarctica to Everest, Outer space to Olympic swimming pools and much more. It is also the secret history of women and their unsung roles in the economics of empires. It is really very good.

A fascinating history

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