{"product_id":"threads-of-empire-a-history-of-the-world-in-twelve-carpets-dorothy-armstrong-hardcover","title":"Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets -- Dorothy Armstrong, Hardcover","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCarpet specialist Dorothy Armstrong tells the stories surrounding twelve of the world's most fascinating carpets.\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\n\n\nDorothy Armstrong's \u003ci\u003eThreads of Empire\u003c\/i\u003e is 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, fibers from domestic animals, and the millennia-old skills of interweaving warps, wefts and knots. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThreads of Empire\u003c\/i\u003e, 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, \u003ci\u003eThreads of Empire \u003c\/i\u003euncovers a new, hitherto hidden past right beneath our feet.\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Dorothy Armstrong\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e St. Martin's Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 6\/17\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.3 lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9.3\" H x 6.5\" L x 1.5\" W\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781250321435\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e","brand":"Flowerburst","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50583990993200,"sku":"9781250321435","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2712\/8368\/files\/9781250321435_1c2e3317-df01-403b-8fe8-d0adc93b41c3.jpg?v=1775190723","url":"https:\/\/flowerburst.co\/products\/threads-of-empire-a-history-of-the-world-in-twelve-carpets-dorothy-armstrong-hardcover","provider":"Flowerburst","version":"1.0","type":"link"}