Published in 2020
6 hours and 14 minutes
Bestselling author and columnist Sally Coulthard has spent the last two decades writing about her favourite things – nature, history and craft. Many of her books delve into the traditions of rural life – from artisans to agriculture – the people, plants and creatures who make the countryside tick.
Sally’s work often weaves together different disciplines, pulling threads from social history, anthropology, archaeology, design and nature writing to bring her diverse subjects to life.
After studying Archaeology and Anthropology at Oxford, and a brief stint working in factual television production, Sally moved back to her beloved Yorkshire, married a gardener and set up a smallholding; it’s from there, surrounded by her family and other animals, that Sally writes from a shed in the old orchard.
Her books have covered a wide range of themes – from native bees and hedgehogs to folklore and the history of rural buildings. The countryside remains a constant source of inspiration – whether it’s barn owls or earthworms – and many of Sally’s books share her love of native wildlife and sustainable living.
Sally also writes a column for Country Living magazine, A Good Life, in which she reveals the triumphs and disasters of growing her own fruit and vegetables, and keeping an unruly gaggle of livestock including Soay sheep, runner ducks and hens. She’s written over twenty-five non-fiction books. Her titles have been translated into a dozen languages and many of her more recent publications are also available as audiobooks
What is this book about?
An addictively free-ranging survey of the massive impact that the domesticated ungulates of the genus Ovis have had on human history.
From the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the rolling hills of medieval England to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story.
Starting with our Neolithic ancestors’ first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 10,000 years ago, these remarkable animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and languages, helped us to win wars, decorated our homes and financed the conquest of large swathes of the earth. Enormous fortunes and new, society-changing industries have been made from the fleeces of sheep and cities shaped by shepherds’ markets and meat trading.
Sally Coulthard weaves the rich and fascinating story of sheep into a vivid and colourful tapestry, thickly threaded with engaging anecdotes and remarkable ovine facts, whose multiple strands reflect the deep penetration of these woolly animals into every aspect of human society and culture.
