The History of Bread: From Pre-Historic to Modern Times: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The History of Bread: From Pre-Historic to Modern Times, credited to John Ashton, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The History of Bread: From Pre-Historic to Modern Times by John Ashton. Read in English by LibriVox Volunteers. From ancient flatbreads cooked on hot stones to the fluffy loaves of the early 20th century, Ashton explores how bread rose alongside human civilization—its popularity evolving with shifts in agriculture, class, religion, and technology. From the temples of Egypt to the bakeries of Victorian England, each chapter slices into a new perspective on this everyday staple turned cultural icon. The book also kneads in odd bread laws, riots over pricing, and growing concerns about what was secretly being mixed into the dough. - Summary by Carrie Mae Streb

Recording facts

• Recording title: The History of Bread: From Pre-Historic to Modern Times
• Author credits: John Ashton
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 16
• Listed recording duration: 4:42:51

Catalogue topics

• culinary history
• early food science
• food culture

Track guide

1. 00 - Preface — 1:10
2. 01 - Pre‑historic Bread — 11:37
3. 02 - Corn in Egypt and Assyria — 7:15
4. 03 - Bread in Palestine — 25:35
5. 04 - The Bread of the Classic Lands — 18:14
6. 05 - Bread in Eastern Lands — 23:38
7. 06 - Bread in Europe and America — 21:05
8. 07 - Early English Bread — 34:57
9. 08 - How Grain Becomes Flour — 17:40
10. 09 - The Miller and His Tolls — 22:06
11. 10 - Bread‑Making and Baking — 19:54
12. 11 - Ovens Ancient and Modern — 10:38
13. 12 - The Religious Use of Bread — 13:26
14. 13 - Ginger Bread and Charity Bread — 15:05
15. 14 - Bread Riots — 10:51
16. 15 - Legends about Bread — 29:40

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.