Threads of Empire

A History of the World in Twelve Carpets

De: Dorothy Armstrong

Narrado por: Alix Dunmore

A spellbinding look at the history of the world through the stories of twelve carpets

Beautiful, sensuous, and enigmatic, great carpets follow power. Emperors, shahs, sultans and samurai crave them as symbols of earthly domination. Shamans and priests desire them to evoke the spiritual realm. The world's 1% hunger after them as displays of extreme status. And yet these seductive objects are made by poor and illiterate weavers, using the most basic materials and crafts; hedgerow plants for dyes, fibres from domestic animals, and the millennia-old skills of interweaving warps, wefts and knots.

In Threads of Empire, Dorothy Armstrong tells the histories of some of the world's most fascinating carpets, exploring how these textiles came into being then were transformed as they moved across geography and time in the slipstream of the great. She shows why the world's powerful were drawn to them, but also asks what was happening in the weavers' lives, and how they were affected by events in the world outside their tent, village or workshop.

In its wide-ranging examination of these dazzling objects, from the 5th century BCE contents of the tombs of Scythian chieftains, to the carpets under the boots of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill at the 1945 Yalta Peace Conference, Threads of Empire uncovers a new, hitherto hidden past right beneath our feet.©2025 Dorothy Armstrong

Reseñas de la Crítica

Vivid . . . glittering

A revelation, about the making of carpets, and of markets, and of aesthetic taste. This beautiful book balances Dorothy Armstrong's expertise and her enthralling storytelling perfectly. The tale of each carpet as she tells it is untidy and tragic and comical all at once (Tessa Hadley, author)

A beguiling tour . . . The book displays deep learning, endless curiosity - and a conviction that seemingly mute objects can be anything but

Fascinating . . . Retrieves something of the history so long trodden underfoot. (Michael Prodger)

Who knew that carpets contained such a wealth of fascinating history? Dorothy Armstrong for one, and she shares a lifetime's passion with enviable elegance, weaving her way across centuries and continents. The vocabulary of storytelling is threaded with metaphors straight from the loom; this book shows us why (Oliver Soden, author)

A fascinating exploration of the part twelve carpets have played in world events. Carpets, usually woven by nameless women, have been desired throughout history by sultans and holy men, tycoons and tyrants, and their histories shed light on power dynamics across the ages . . . the book contains exquisite images and descriptions of some of the rarest and most important carpets ever made . . . Always at the forefront of Armstrong's accounts of these carpets are their anonymous makers: craftspeople, prisoners, women and children - marginalised, often itinerant, almost always on the wrong side of history (Lucy Moore)

Whether you are a consummate carpet connoisseur or a complete carpet newbie, I defy you not to get wrapped up in Armstrong's beautifully crafted book. An utterly all-encompassing and life-affirming read (Helena Gumley-Mason, Head of Carpets and Tapestries at Bonhams)

Armstrong steers us in pursuit of shoals of apparent red herrings, invariably returning to the point of departure with a cleverly honed message. Each chapter is a woven masterpiece of unexpected twists and lightly worn research (Berrin Torolsan)

Beautifully written and ceaselessly entertaining. If you read one book about carpets this year, make it this one (Alexander Larman, author)

A wonderfully conceived and very engagingly written window onto global culture, history and politics through the prism of carpets. Products of unknown, unnamed and often illiterate artists of the highest skill, especially from the continent of Asia, these textiles have formed the home-settings of nomadic and settled peoples from lowly farmers to the highest aristocracy, across the world. Armstrong's enthusiasm, historical and technical command of her field, and her deep knowledge of so much of world history shines through like a bolt of enlivening sunshine (Jaś Elsner, author)