The Golden Thread

How Fabric Changed History

By: Kassia St. Clair

Narrated by: Helen Johns

The best-selling author of The Secret Lives of Color returns with this rollicking narrative of the 30,000-year history of fabric, briskly told through 13 charismatic episodes.

From colorful 30,000-year-old threads found on the floor of a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, The Golden Thread weaves an illuminating story of human ingenuity. Design journalist Kassia St. Clair guides us through the technological advancements and cultural customs that would redefine human civilization - from the fabric that allowed mankind to achieve extraordinary things (traverse the oceans and shatter athletic records) and survive in unlikely places (outer space and the South Pole). She peoples her story with a motley cast of characters, including Xiling, the ancient Chinese empress credited with inventing silk, to Richard the Lionhearted and Bing Crosby.

Offering insights into the economic and social dimensions of clothmaking - and countering the enduring, often demeaning, association of textiles as "merely women's work" - The Golden Thread offers an alternative guide to our past, present, and future.

©2018 Kassia St. Clair (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

So good, I'm listening to it again

Loved, it. The in depth research of textile across time and place in our history is mesmerizing.
Thank you Kassia St. Clair. I wish everyone could read this book and end this fast fashion nonsense for good.

Fascinating mixture of history and fiber/textile facts

I am a textile and apparel professor and while I knew some of the examples, I learned so much! Viking sails out of felted wool! Fascinating.

Great book!

The history was fascinating and it’s well written. I wish he or she had gone into more specific fabrics.
The narration was great!!

A truly fascinating detailed account!!!

Wonderful premise that calls into question the common understanding and influence of cloth throughout human history.

Learned a lot

I appreciate all the stories that show the importance of textiles in everyday life and their impacts on society. I learned a lot about impacts that I never knew about, like how swimsuits affected competition rules for swimming.

Great book, okay narration

Fantastic. I love this book so much. I love learning about the history of textile production and the lives of the people who made them.

I did have one quibble with the narrator. She didn't always research the pronunciation of things. The one that bothered me the most was in the section on sports fabrics, she mispronounced Nike. Not just once but Many, Many times. It is "NI-kEy" not "Nik." I feel like someone in the production chain should have caught that even if the narrator had never heard of the incredibly famous sportswear brand.

A fascinating study

I enjoyed learning from the various eras and items of focus in the wide range of fabrics chosen for discussion. Well written and researched.

So interesting

The historical tidbits in this book are fascinating! Well told - I highly recommend for those who thrive on history!

A Fascinating nonfiction book!

The narrator told the story with elegance and the fine diction of a good storyteller.

Something we all should know!

Learn something new everyday! And this book is it ! As a sewist, knitter, and now weaver I really wanted to know some history of thread, yarn and where we came from this has been a fascinating listen, although I had to do it in small sessions it os so well researched and each section illuminating. Thank you, I know from time to time I will go back and refresh on many topics. The hardest to listen to was the cotton production and slavery, although enlightening, I have encouraged others to listen and appreciate what it is and what they are sewing on!!