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The Fabric of Civilization
- How Textiles Made the World
- Narrated by: Caroline Cole
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
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The Fabric of Civilization
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Summary
From Paleolithic flax to 3D knitting, explore the global history of textiles and the world they weave together in this enthralling and educational guide.
The story of humanity is the story of textiles - as old as civilization itself. Since the first thread was spun, the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture.
In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel synthesizes groundbreaking research from archaeology, economics, and science to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to Romans arrayed in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade paved the crossroads of the ancient world. Textiles funded the Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; they gave us banks and bookkeeping, Michelangelo's David and the Taj Mahal. The cloth business spread the alphabet and arithmetic, propelled chemical research, and taught people to think in binary code.
Assiduously researched and deftly narrated, The Fabric of Civilization tells the story of the world's most influential commodity.
Critic reviews
“We are taken on a journey as epic, and varying, as the Silk Road itself… [The Fabric of Civilization is] like a swatch of a Florentine Renaissance brocade: carefully woven, the technique precise, the colors a mix of shade and shine and an accurate representation of the whole cloth.”―New York Times
“Expansive… The author is excellent at highlighting how textiles truly changed the world.”―Wall Street Journal
“Textile-making hasn’t gotten enough credit for its own sophistication, and for all the ways it undergirds human technological innovation—an error Virginia Postrel’s erudite and complete book goes a long way toward correcting at last.”―Wired
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What listeners say about The Fabric of Civilization
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liz K
- 16-10-22
Textile heaven
This is an engrossing audiobook, which would appeal to anybody with any sort of interest in textiles. I have a degree in textiles so it was of particular interest to me. It also convincingly argues the case for textiles being at the cultural hub of the civilisation of the entire world. I dropped one star for the performance because some of the foreign words were pronounced peculiarly and it wouldn’t have been difficult to have looked them up first on the Internet, for example on the Forvo site. Overall though I absolutely loved this and found it really fascinating and recommend it highly.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alyce von Rothkirch
- 22-06-22
A great narrative but...
The history (and future) of fabrics and textiles is truly fascinating. I just wish they'd chosen a less robotic reader. Honestly, you can't tell if the reader was a human or a machine. She was also totally tone deaf to pauses, sub/chapter endings etc. It's testament to the wonderful narrative that I persisted to the end.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Shona Hoey
- 01-04-22
Absolutely fascinating!
I was recommended this by a colleague and was not disappointed. It feels like the sort of knowledge which changes your world view, and makes you sound really clever if you repeat any of it :')
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