Material culture Books

Book SynopsisThe second edition of Consumer Culture brings this successful introductory textbook right up-to-date for students who are interested in the nature and role of consumption in modern societies. It introduces the importance of new object-based studies for consumer culture, as well as adding new chapters on branding and the rise of ethical consumption. Drawing on a wide range of studies, and using contemporary illustrations from the media and popular culture, the author examines the rise of consumer culture and the changing relations between the production and consumption of cultural goods. She argues that consumer culture has become increasingly stylized and now provides an important context for everyday creativity. The author explores the way an individual's position in social groups structured by class, gender, race and age affects the nature of his or her participation in consumer culture. She also argues that this has contributed to changes in the way in which individuals belong to these social groups. The powerful role consumption plays in our lives is thus revealed as consumer culture is seen to provide new ways of creating social and political identities.Trade Review"In a now vast literature Celia Lury's new edition stands out for its clarity and critical intelligence. In addition to offering a a guide through the thicket of new and old approaches, this book provides readers with a map to explore how consumption shapes personal and group identities."Frank Trentmann, Birkbeck College "Consumer Culture is a gem of a book. Celia Lury writes with insight, timeliness, and a thorough mastery of the subject. The general reader, the scholar, and the student will read Consumer Culture with the disturbing kind of satisfaction that comes from learning just how deeply consumerism has become a way of life."Charles Lemert, Wesleyan University "Consumer culture is everywhere but we rarely see it. In this second revised edition, Celia Lury takes a number of vivid scenes from our daily lives and provides helpful cultural grounding for questioning our ordinary experiences as consumers. Well organized and well written, the book provides an articulated picture of an increasingly fundamental aspect of contemporary cultures, stressing the role that ethics, subjectivity and difference have in shaping what consumer culture is today. Offering theoretical definitions and practical examples, this is a user-friendly book which will attract many readers and help them through the predicament of consumer choice and its increasingly relevant symbolic centrality for subjectivity constitution." Roberta Sassatelli, University of MilanTable of ContentsIntroduction: What is consumer culture? Chapter 1 Material Culture and Consumer Culture Chapter 2 Exchanging things: the economy and culture Chapter 3 Objects, subjects and signs Chapter 4 Capital, class and consumer culture Chapter 5 Circuits of culture: gender, race and reflexivity Chapter 6 Brands: markets, media and movement Chapter 7 Consuming ethics, or What goes around, comes around Chapter 8 Consumer Culture, Identity and Politics: when are you (not) a consumer? Bibliography

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Book SynopsisNeil MacGregor''s A History of the World in 100 Objects takes a bold, original approach to human history, exploring past civilizations through the objects that defined them. Encompassing a grand sweep of human history, A History of the World in 100 Objects begins with one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands, a chopping tool from the Olduvai gorge in Africa, and ends with objects which characterise the world we live in today. Seen through MacGregor''s eyes, history is a kaleidoscope - shifting, interconnected, constantly surprising, and shaping our world today in ways that most of us have never imagined. A stone pillar tells us about a great Indian emperor preaching tolerance to his people; Spanish pieces of eight tell us about the beginning of a global currency; and an early Victorian tea-set speaks to us about the impact of empire. An intellectual and visual feast, this is one of the most engrossing and unusual history books published in years. ''Brilliant, engagingly written, deeply researched'' Mary Beard, Guardian ''A triumph: hugely popular, and rightly lauded as one of the most effective and intellectually ambitious initiatives in the making of ''public history'' for many decades'' Sunday Telegraph ''Highly intelligent, delightfully written and utterly absorbing '' Timothy Clifford, Spectator ''This is a story book, vivid and witty, shining with insights, connections, shocks and delights'' Gillian Reynolds Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisA beautiful memoir, travelogue and meditation on stone by artist and stone mason Beatrice Searle.'Extraordinary' Guardian‘A magnificent book’ Alex Woodcock‘Exceptional’ Kerri Andrews‘Luminous’ SpectatorAt the age of twenty-six, artist and Cathedral stonemason Beatrice Searle crossed the North Sea and walked 500 miles along a medieval pilgrim path through Southern Norway, taking with her a 40-kilogram Orcadian stone.Fascinated with the mysterious footprint stones of Northern Europe and the ancient Greco-Roman world, stones closely associated with travellers, saints and the inauguration of Kings, she follows in their footsteps as her stone becomes a talisman, a bedrock and an offering to those she meets along the way.Stone Will Answer is an unusual adventure story of journeys practical, spiritual and geological, of weight and motion, and an insight into a beguiling craft.Trade ReviewExtraordinary... Confessional, elemental and at times moving, this is a memorable and unique celebration of the power and beauty of stone. * Guardian *Searle is an excellent storyteller... [and Stone Will Answer] make[s] for gripping reading... it's the human spirit that emerges triumphant in this sparky blend of memoir and travelogue... Above all, this is the story of a young woman's astonishing feat of endurance * Herald *A gifted writer, capable of luminous description * Spectator *Subtle and thought-provoking * TLS *Illuminating... I was quickly taken in by Beatrice Searle's distinctive voice, and by the end I couldn't help but feel very differently about stones, rootedness, belonging, and indeed what walking might mean. Beatrice's story is exceptional, and she is an exceptional story teller. -- Kerri Andrews, author of Wandering: A History of Women WalkingA magnificent book. Written with the eye of a poet and the heart of an artist, Stone Will Answer is both a moving account of an unconventional journey and a testament to the power of stone in finding anchorage in an uncertain world -- Alex Woodcock, author of King of DustA story of dedication and tenacity that is deeply moving and utterly captivating. Stone Will Answer is a truly remarkable book, a beautifully crafted tale of an artist's extraordinary journey. Searle seamlessly contemplates the meaning of craft, ancient myths, the mutability of stone and the transformations within her own life. Its rare to read a story of such artistic integrity. I felt bereft when I finished but also buoyed by a new found fascination with stone and all its many meanings. -- Sally Huband, author of Sea BeanAn astonishing mission with huge integrity in the telling. -- Linda Cracknell, author of Writing LandscapeA story of determination and soul-searching... Compellingly narrated, entertaining and thought-provoking... treat yourself to a copy of this book and enjoy the journey * Natural Stone Specialist *A moving testimony to the power of art, of finding the extraordinary in the everyday and acting upon your instinct. To walk with Searle in its pages is to experience stone within a new light... as a part-knowable, ever-shifting medium in the process of slow but perpetual change, one long work-in-progress. -- Alex Woodcock * Caught by the River *

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Book SynopsisThe international literary icon opens his eclectic closet and shares photos of his extensive unique personal T-shirt collection. Haruki Murakami's books have galvanized millions around the world. Many of his fans know about his 10,000-vinyl-record collection, and his obsession with running, but few have heard about a more intimate, and perhaps more unique, passion: his T-shirt-collecting habit.In Murakami T, the famously reclusive novelist shows us his T-shirts - including gems found in bookshops, charity shops and record stores - from those featuring whisky, animals, cars and superheroes, to souvenirs of marathons and a Beach Boys concert in Honolulu, to the shirt that inspired the beloved short story 'Tony Takitani'. Accompanied by short, frank essays that have been translated into English for the first time, these photographs reveal much about Murakami's multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric persona.'The world's most popular cult novelist' GuardianTrade ReviewFascinating...part ode, part exhibit that reads with restrained affection for his accidental accumulations....these tees excavate an intimate history. The choices we make about what we find and keep point to our interior worlds...Murakami's understated love letters to his tees also convey how we give life to our things and vice versa. * Atlantic *It's safe to say there is no one like Murakami * Literary Review *Murakami is one of the best writers around * Time Out, on Norwegian Wood *Everything he chooses to describe trembles with symbolic possibility * Guardian, on Norwegian Wood *Mesmerising, surreal, this really is the work of a true original * The Times, on The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle *Undeniably a somewhat eccentric book. But it's also a very likeable one... The overall effect is not unlike sharing a conversation with a genial bloke in a bar * Reader's Digest *One of the most influential novelists of his generation. * Observer *An incredibly readable and charming tour through Murakami's life through the T-shirts he has collected along the way... [the reader] feels a personal connection with him, as if we are reading his secret diary -- Adam Davidson * Northern Echo *

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Book SynopsisAn introduction to the sociology of money, foregrounding how money embodies social relationsTrade Review'An extremely knowledgeable account of existing theories of money' -- Jens Beckert, author of Imagined 'Futures: Fictional Expectations and Capitalist Dynamics' (Harvard University Press, 2016)'A well-argued exploration of the history and nature of money ... Thorough and comprehensive' -- Mary Mellor, author of Money: Myths, Truths and Alternatives (Policy Press, 2019)Table of ContentsPreface 1. Economic Theories of Money – and Their Critiques 1.1. Barter, Exchange and Money 1.2. Objective versus Subjective Theories of Value 1.3. The Improbability of Exchange 2. Money’s Unlikely Origins 2.1. Gift-exchange and ceremonial monies 2.2. Money and (the End of) Violence 2.3. Economies of Sacrifice 2.4. Secrets of the Coin 3. Money and Finance 3.1. Time and Money 3.2. The Logic of Financial Markets 4. The Politics of Money 4.1. The Foundations and Fundamental Problems of Contemporary Money 4.2. Private Monies (or Bitcoin) 4.3. Sovereign Money 4.4. Central Bank Independence and the Inescapable Politicality of Money 5. Money and Society 5.1. Alienation and Freedom 5.2. Money and Functional Differentiation References Index

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Book SynopsisThe study of fashion has expanded into a thriving field of inquiry, with researchers utilizing diverse methods from across subject disciplines to explore fashion and dress in wide-ranging contexts. With an emphasis on material culture and ethnographic approaches in fashion studies, this groundbreaking volume offers fascinating insights into the complex dynamics of research and fashion.Featuring unique case studies, with interdisciplinary scholars reflecting on their practical research experiences, Fashion Studies provides rich and nuanced perspectives on the use, and mixing and matching of methodological approaches including object and image based research, the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods and the fluid bridging of theory and practice. Engaging with diverse subjects, from ethnographies of model casting and street-style blogging, wardrobe studies and a material culture analysis of global denim wearing, to Martin Margiela's design and archival methods, FTrade ReviewWith an emphasis on material culture and ethnographic approaches in fashion studies, this groundbreaking volume offers fascinating insights into the complex dynamics of research and fashion. * ADDRESS: Journal for Fashion Criticism *For anyone teaching fashion from practice and theory perspectives, as well as those actively engaged in research and reflecting on their own research journeys and projects, this book is an invaluable addition to their library shelves. * Costume *Never before has the diverse panorama of research methods in fashion studies been brought together in one volume. From object to image and from design to consumer, our field’s leading scholars thoughtfully share the unique ways in which they collect and theorize data in fashion. This is the essential text for all fashion studies research methods courses and the latest addition to all of our personal reference libraries. * Ben Barry, Associate Professor of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, School of Fashion, Ryerson University, Canada *Heike Jenss has done an outstanding job in compiling an insightful and inspiring book that covers a range of important research on fashion as a material object and a practice. This book demonstrates the depth and the richness of the discipline and its creative methodological strategies. It is an invaluable contribution to the field and a must-read for all fashion scholars, practitioners, and students. * Yuniya Kawamura, Professor of Sociology at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, USA *Focusing on research methods and practices in fashion studies, and demonstrating how both fashion and research are in fact situated practices, this much welcome collection will prove a necessity for anyone teaching fashion studies and/or doing fashion research. The rich array of case studies all elegantly manage to bridge theory and practice, and while outlining and exemplifying a variety of methodologies, they also ultimately prove the interdisciplinarity of fashion studies as a field. * Louise Wallenberg, Associate Professor and Establishing Director of the Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden *Table of ContentsForeword, Christopher Breward, Edinburgh College of Art, UK Introduction - Locating Fashion/Studies: Research Methods, Sites and Practices, Heike Jenss, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA SECTION ONE: APPROACHING FASHION AND DRESS AS MATERIAL CULTURE Introduction, Heike Jenss, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA 1. In Search of the Everyday: Museums, Collections and Representations of Fashion in London and New York, Cheryl Buckley, University of Brighton, UK, and Hazel Clark, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA 2. ‘Humble’ Blue Jeans: Material Culture Approaches to Understanding the Ordinary, Global, and the Personal, Sophie Woodward, University of Manchester, UK SECTION TWO: EXPLORING FASHION PRACTICES THROUGH ETHNOGRAPHY Introduction, Heike Jenss, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA 3. Ethnographic Entanglements: Memory and Narrative in the Global Fashion Industry, Christina Moon, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA 4. Urban Fieldnotes: An Auto-Ethnography of Street Style Blogging, Brent Luvaas, Drexel University, USA 5. Recasting Fashion Image Production: An Ethnographic and Practice-Based Approach to Investigating Bodies as Media, Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, University of Cincinnati, USA 6. Exploring Creativity: An Ethnographic Approach to Studying Fashion Design Pedagogy, Todd Nicewonger, University of Gothenburg, Sweden SECTION THREE: MIXED METHODS Introduction, Heike Jenss, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA 7. Fitting Sources – Tailoring Methods: A Case-Study of Martin Margiela and the Temporalities of Fashion, Francesca Granata, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA 8. Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Fashion Studies: Philosophical Underpinnings and Multiple Masculinities, Susan B. Kaiser, University of California, Davis, USA, and Denise N. Green, Cornell University, USA 9. Action! Or, Exploring Diffractive Methods for Fashion Research, Otto von Busch, Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden 10. Editing Fashion Studies: Reflections on Methodology and Interdisciplinarity in The Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Joanne B. Eicher, University of Minnesota, USA Index

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Book SynopsisHighly Commended, Society for Renaissance Studies Biennial Book Prize 2022In sixteenth and seventeenth-century England, the female silhouette underwent a dramatic change. This very structured form, created using garments called bodies and farthingales, existed in various extremes in Western Europe and beyond, in the form of stays, corsets, hoop petticoats and crinolines, right up until the twentieth century. With a nuanced approach that incorporates a stunning array of visual and written sources and drawing on transdisciplinary methodologies, Shaping Femininity explores the relationship between material culture and femininity by examining the lives of a wide range of women, from queens to courtiers, farmer's wives and servants, uncovering their lost voices and experiences. It reorients discussions about female foundation garments in English and wider European history, arguing that these objects of material culture began to shape and define changing notions of the feminineTrade ReviewVirtually nothing is known about early modern undergarments, although they were clearly worn by (nearly) everyone. Moving beyond surviving inventories, images and objects, Bendall reconstructed her own garments in order to understand how they shaped the female body The result is a fascinating exploration of a – literally – disguised history, one that shows how female agency shaped and defined notions of femininity alongside the male gaze. * Judges' comments, Society for Renaissance Studies Biennial Book Prize 2022 *Sarah Bendall’s fascinating exploration of women’s foundation garments in Early Modern England shows not just how artisans made clothes, but how clothes made their wearers. Richly researched and beautifully illustrated, Shaping Femininity is both scholarly and accessible, and its innovative use of historical reconstruction ensures that it will become the essential study of female silhouettes before the Victorian corset. * Timothy McCall, Villanova University, USA *Body shaping garments determined the social spaces females claimed, an embodied assertion, always political. Sarah Bendall’s original and important interdisciplinary study reveals the gendered meanings of shaping garments, in elite and everyday life. History is enriched through her findings. * Beverly Lemire, University of Alberta, Canada *Shaping Femininity provides fascinating insight into female foundation garments in early modern England – their makers and wearers, their materiality and their meanings. With a richly evocative contextual background that takes in a wide range of texts, images, garments and objects, Bendall deftly shows how female bodies were a site of agency and contest, power and beauty. A powerful voice of the role of experiential learning, Bendall charts her own reconstructions of garments. The vital importance of making and experience is at the heart of this book, which insists that we take foundation garments – and the women who wore them – seriously. * Erin Griffey, University of Auckland, New Zealand *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Notes to the Reader Abbreviations Introduction 1. The foundations of the body: foundation garments and the early modern female silhouette 2. The artificial body: courtiers, gentlewomen and disputed visions of femininity, 1560-1650 3. The socially mobile body: consumption of foundation garments by middling and common women, 1560 – 1650 4. The body makers: making and buying foundation garments in early modern England 5. The everyday body: assumptions, tropes and the lived experience 6. The sexual body: eroticism, reproduction and control 7. The respectable body: rising consumption and the changing sensibilities of late seventeenth-and early eighteenth-century England Conclusion: legacies and misconceptions Glossary Notes Selected Bibliography List of Illustrations Index

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Book SynopsisHistory through material culture is a unique, step-by-step guide for students and researchers who wish to use objects as historical sources.Responding to the significant, scholarly interest in historical material culture studies, this book makes clear how students and researchers ready to use these rich material sources can make important, valuable and original contributions to history.Written by two experienced museum practitioners and historians, the book recognises the theoretical and practical challenges of this approach and offers clear advice on methods to get the best out of material culture research. With a focus on the early modern and modern periods, this volume draws on examples from across the world and demonstrates how to use material culture to answer a range of enquiries, including social, economic, gender, cultural and global history.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Approaches to the material world 2 Planning a research project 3 Developing a methodology 4 Locating sources: understanding museum collections and other repositories 5 Analysing sources 6 Writing up findings Afterword Index

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Book SynopsisIn Miniature is a delightful, entertaining and illuminating investigation into our peculiar fascination with making things small, and what small things tell us about the world at large.Here you will find the secret histories of tiny Eiffel Towers, the truth about the flea circus, a doll's house made for a queen, eerie tableaux of crime scenes, miniature food, model villages and railways, and more. Simon Garfield brings together history, psychology, art and obsession, to explore what fuels the strong appeal of miniature objects among collectors, modellers and fans, and teaches us that there is greatness in the diminutive.Trade ReviewA rare treat, convivial and smart and brimming with intrigue. Simon Garfield excavates the curiouser of small worlds where not all is as it seems - obscure and wondrous, a bit bonkers and totally fascinating, and just my cup of tea -- KEGGIE CAREW, author of DadlandGarfield's book is thrilling, touching and very, very funny -- NINA STIBBEThis intriguing study of our urge to make scale models is full of bizarre stories and poignant insight . . . engaging and exuberant . . . The moral seems to be that we're all small, relatively speaking, which is perhaps why In Miniature is not only highly entertaining; it is also moving * * Observer * *If you are someone who appreciates the quirkier byways of human endeavour, there's plenty to surprise and delight in this compendium * * The Times * *Fascinating and often funny . . . As a (scaled-down) book, In Miniature is a well-built, highly polished entity. It is full of evocative sentences [and] amusing drive-by thwacks . . . But what he also shows in abundance is the sympathetic understanding of the needs and travails of "ordinary" people that lit up his previous books * * Guardian * *In Miniature is a delicious read; quirky, unpredictable and written with a genuine savour for the subject * * Mail on Sunday * *Simon Garfield's enthusiasm . . . is irresistible . . . Garfield offers not just intriguing snapshots of curiosities but some rather interesting history lessons * * Spectator * *Delightful . . . In Miniature is fascinating, funny and, in places, unexpectedly moving . . . This book is proof of the old adage that good things come in small packages * * Literary Review * *Garfield's intelligent exploration of mankind's passion for making small versions of large objects is meticulously researched * * Daily Express, Books of the Year * *Fashioned with as much love of, and relish for, the telling detail as many of the scaled-down creations it surveys, In Miniature finds Simon Garfield at both his wittiest and his most profound and philosophical. It is a book that puts the little things into the big picture, its perspective generous and its scope wide; you will never look at a doll house or model train quite the same again. Were I not an atheist I would proclaim him the god of small things -- TRAVIS ELBOROUGH

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Book SynopsisThe Private Lives of Pictures offers a new history of British art, seen from the perspective of the home. Focusing on the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, the book takes the reader on a tour of an imaginary Victorian or Edwardian house, stopping in each room to look at the pictures on the walls. The book opens up the intimate history of art in everyday life, and examines many issues including how pictures were chosen for each room, how they were displayed, and what role they played in interior design. Superbly illustrated, The Private Lives of Pictures appeals to readers interested in both art and social history, and the history of interiors.

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Book SynopsisDaniel Miller is one of the leading anthropologists in Britain today and is well known for his work on material culture This new book is a manifesto for the study of material culture.Trade Review"Miller deftly displays a talent for the uncluttered presentation of ideas,largely eschewing complexity without compromising the integrity of his arguments. By constantly placing his fieldwork centre-stage, Miller allows the empirical realities of ethnography to bolster his key proposals and repeatedly encourages readers to question and reflect upon material culture and their relationships with their own ‘stuff'". Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford "[Stuff] really is a little gem. Timely, well-written and highly accessible, it is a concise and grounded resource in the struggle to analyse the complexities of contemporary cultural life ... For undergraduates and general critical readers alike, it will be a welcome and thought-provoking reminder that the material world of things we have created, and which in turn helps to create us, needs to be understood dialectically - for better and for worse." Times Higher Education "[T]here are fascinating things here: a seven-page description of how a woman who wears a sari navigates daily life through the garment; a portrait of council tenants as "artists" redecorating their flats in different ways; and analyses of fashion, furnishing and "mobile phone relationships" in Jamaica. When Miller is focused on the details, the writing hums with empathetic colour and detail." The Guardian "This is a unique book that comes from a unique scholar. In this one volume, one can see the power of material culture as a means to study culture and society more generally. The specifics are informative and the larger formulations profound. The writing is consistently clear - at times, endearing - and the content brilliant." Harvey Molotch, New York University "This book fizzes and sparkles with ideas and intelligence. Professor Miller develops his dialectical theory of material culture with enviable clarity. Readers are encouraged by his captivating style and lightly-worn scholarship to the frontiers of the subject: they will never look at their stuff in the same way again." Ray Pahl, University of EssexTable of ContentsAcknowledgements vi Prologue: My Life as an Extremist 1 1 Why Clothing is not Superficial 12 2 Theories of Things 42 3 Houses: Accommodating Theory 79 4 Media: Immaterial Culture and Applied Anthropology 110 5 Matter of Life and Death 135 Notes 157 Index 165

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Book SynopsisThis beautifully illustrated book takes the reader on a journey through natural history and shows the richness of animal life on our planet like you’ve never seen it before.

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. The shipping container is all around: whizzing by on the highway, trundling past on rails, unloading behind a big box store even as you shop there, clanking on the docks just out of sight. 90% of the goods and materials that move around the globe do so in shipping containers. It is an absolutely ubiquitous object, even if most of us have no direct contact with it. But what is this thing? Where has it been, and where is it going? Craig Martin's book illuminates the development of containerizationincluding design history, standardization, aesthetics, and a surprising speculative discussion of the futurity of shipping containers.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewCraig Martin has brought real love and insight to the logistical life of the shipping container. He reveals its role in the distributive space of extensive global networks and other dark places and their knotty politics, without ever losing track of our personal attachment and alienation to this box of ubiquity, this vessel of choreographed capitalism. Shipping Container is an efficient little package, calculating, brisk, economical, and yet, it is anything but a standardized account; it just sings. * Peter Adey, Professor of Human Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK *Object Lessons’ describes themselves as ‘short, beautiful books,’ and to that, I'll say, amen. … [I]t is in this simplicity that we find insight and even beauty. Shipping Container by Craig Martin asks us to contemplate an object on which we depend to move 90 percent of what goes from point A to points B through Z on the globe, but also with which very few of us have had direct contact. If you read enough ‘Object Lessons’ books, you'll fill your head with plenty of trivia to amaze and annoy your friends and loved ones — caution recommended on pontificating on the objects surrounding you. More importantly, though, in the tradition of McPhee's Oranges, they inspire us to take a second look at parts of the everyday that we've taken for granted. These are not so much lessons about the objects themselves, but opportunities for self-reflection and storytelling. They remind us that we are surrounded by a wondrous world, as long as we care to look. * Chicago Tribune *Shipping Container discusses in detail the mechanics of this object. It broadens this out to reflect on the significance of design and the efficiencies of standardization. Verdict: Borrow. Shipping Container is impressive in the way it manages to spin an apparently dull object into intelligent and interesting explanations of design and commerce. * Book Riot *Table of Contents1. Introduction: Packaging Stuff 2. 20 x 40 x 8 feet: Design and Development of a Global Object 3. Twist Lock: Global Object of Capitalism 4. Breaking the Seal: Illicit Lives of the Container 5. Four Walls: Container Afterlives: 6. Conclusion: Global Object to Come Index

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.These days the bicycle often appears as an interloper in a world constructed for cars. An almost miraculous 19th-century contraption, the bicycle promises to transform our lives and the world we live in, yet its time seems always yet-to-come or long-gone-by. Jonathan Maskit takes us on an interdisciplinary ride to see what makes the bicycle a magical machine that could yet make the world a safer, greener, and more just place.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewIn his insightful contribution to the Object Lessons series, Jonathan Maskit dives deep into this great yet humble human invention and its role in transportation. After reading Bicycle, you’ll never think of cycling the same way again * Sanna Lehtinen, Research Fellow, School of Arts, Design, and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland *Table of ContentsList of Figures 1. A Tale of Two Cyborgs 2. A Brief History 3. The Magical Machine 4. The Death Machine 5. What Does It Mean to Share the Road? 6. Right of Way 7. Bicycle Diaries 8. Motorism and Motorists 9. The Visible and the Invisible 10. Ghost Bikes 11. Idaho Stop 12. Space 13. History Repeats Itself 15. Dark Clouds, Silver Linings Acknowledgements Bibliography Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA unique perspective on one of the most infamous cities in recent American history. - Publisher's WeeklyA book that sticks with you long after you've read it. Volume 1 BrooklynHoke's writing is blunt and honest, and Sticker is a collection worth keeping. Southern Review of BooksI will never forget this book. - T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless GirlsFunny, nostalgic, and weird in the best possible way. - Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, author of My MonticelloFeatured in Electric Lit's The Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2022Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Stickers adorn our first memories, dot our notebooks and our walls, are stuck annoyingly on fruit, and accompany us into adulthood to announce our beliefs from car bumpers. They hold surprising power in their ability to define and provoke, and hold a stranTrade ReviewHoke (The Groundhog Forever) offers up an evocative reflection on queerness, race, and his hometown of Charlottesville, Va., in this conceptual 'memoir in 20 stickers.' .” Part of Bloomsbury’s “Object Lessons” series, his book uses the humble sticker as a metaphorical linchpin for a series of essays that [offer] a unique perspective on one of the most infamous cities in recent American history. * Publishers Weekly *We’re not entirely objective here, but we’re quite fond of the Object Lessons series — and Henry Hoke’s contribution might boast the most striking cover design the series has had to date. Hoke’s book uses stickers to chronicle everything from queer identity to the recent history of Charlottesville, Virginia — all of which should make this a book that sticks with you long after you’ve read it. (Pun intended, oh yes.) * Volume 1 Brooklyn *Hoke’s keenly constructed memoir-in-essays is really a memoir-in-stickers, from the glow-in-the-dark stars and coveted Lisa Frank unicorns of childhood to a Pixies decal from his teenage years. The book also peels back the complicated notoriety of the author’s hometown, Charlottesville, Virginia, juxtaposing Dave Matthews’ fire dancer emblem against a truck emblazoned with the words “Are You Triggered?” on its back window heralding the infamous white supremacist march. * Electric Lit *Sticker is a trove of Millennial nostalgia. Its uniqueness lies not only in Hoke’s unabashed storytelling but also in its critical analysis of American current events and its brutal honesty about a city rooted in racism. In Sticker, Hoke’s Charlottesville morphs into a scrapbook, one where Hoke places many of the literal and metaphorical stickers significant to his past and his identity, one in which America memorializes some of its questionable, inhumane history and many of its darkest days. Possessing the evocative power of Melissa Faliveno’s Tomboyland, Hoke’s writing is blunt and honest, and Sticker is a collection worth keeping. -- Nicole Yurcaba * Southern Review of Books *Funny, nostalgic, and weird in the best possible way, Henry Hoke's Sticker weaves evocative personal moments with hometown lore and racial reckoning, all while making you want to dig up your old-school sticker collection—the puffy, the glowy, especially the scratch and sniff. * Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, author of My Monticello *Henry Hoke examines gender, sexuality, music, and the depths of humanity with exuberant whimsy and charm. Sticker pulses with ghost stories, lamplit streets and pine, boyhood, blood. Startlingly original and gorgeously rendered, I will never forget this book. * T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls *Table of ContentsMr. Yuk Unicorn Wahoowa Gold Star Constellation Chiquita Reinforcer Proud Parent Parental Advisory Explicit Content Rotunda Anarchy Blueberry Death to the Pixies Pink Circle Heart Fire Dancer Be Nice to Me I Gave Blood Today Are You Triggered? Hail Satan HH Index

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Book SynopsisTaking us from the beginning of our story to the present day, A Cold Spell examines how ice has shaped our thoughts, actions and societies – and what it means for us that it is rapidly disappearing from our planet 'A warm-hearted tale of the bizarre, something to cuddle up with in the bleak midwinter . . . Astonishing' THE TIMES 'Bracingly original . . . As the earth warms threateningly, there could hardly be a more pertinent time for a story like this’ MICHAEL PALIN 'A book of limitless fascinations' OLIVIA LAING 'Brightly written, nimbly researched and really quite delightful' LITERARY REVIEW Ice has confounded, delighted and fascinated us since the first sparks of art and culture in Europe and it now underpins the modern world. Without ice, we would not feed ourselves or heal our sick as we do, and our towns and cities, countryside and oceans would look very different. Science would not have progressed along the avenues it did and our galleries and libraries would be missing many masterpieces. A Cold Spell uses this vital link to understanding our past to tell a surprising story of obsession, invention and adventure – how we have lived and dreamed, celebrated and traded, innovated, loved and fought over thousands of years. It brings together a sacrificial Incan mummy, Winston Churchill’s secret plans for unusual aircraft carriers, strange bones that shook Victorian beliefs about the world and a macabre journey into the depths of the human body. It is an original and unique way of looking at something that is literally all around us, whose loss confronts us daily in the news, but whose impact on our lives has never been fully explored. [An] extraordinary, complete and utter history of the human experience of the cold stuff' JOHN LEWIS-STEMPEL, COUNTRY LIFE ‘A thought-provoking chronicle of humanity . . . Leonard consistently frames ice in surprising and insightful ways, and in doing so lends it a magical quality’ GEOGRAPHICALTrade ReviewCharming and quirky . . . This is a warm-hearted tale of the bizarre, something to cuddle up with in the bleak midwinter . . . It’s astonishing how Leonard has managed to cram so much into such a relatively short volume -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *A fascinating exploration of how ice has shaped human existence . . . Ranging from the last ice age to the Anthropocene, Max Leonard’s beguiling history considers the nature of ice as well as its place in “the popular imagination” -- William Atkins * Guardian *[An] extraordinary, complete and utter history of the human experience of the cold stuff . . . Max Leonard is the most assiduous researcher and has scratched down to the very base of the ice-berg -- John Lewis-Stempel * Country Life *‘A Cold Spell appears when even the most boneheaded climate sceptics are conceding that something is up. Max Leonard, naturally, engages with this. Climate change provides a political dimension, but the book is about far more than that . . . Brightly written, nimbly researched and really quite delightful . . . A Cold Spell brims with such colourful stories -- Peter Moore * Literary Review *A thought-provoking chronicle of humanity through an icy lens. From its hand in shaping the birth and birthplace of the human race to its modern status as a metaphor for civilisation, Leonard charts the role ice has played, and continues to play, in our lives with great curiosity. The book’s success is rooted in Leonard’s ability to weave something so ubiquitous into a journey of twists and turns. Traversing history, culture, language, science and human nature via evocative tangents, he consistently frames ice in surprising and insightful ways, and in doing so lends it a magical quality. Nowhere is this truer than in stories of icy obsession – adventurers sacrificing their lives to navigate its polar domains, scientists dedicating theirs to unravelling the secrets it holds * Geographical *Leonard’s charting of the history of humanity’s interactions with ice is a brisk and fascinating piece of work, encompassing the last hours of Ötzi the Iceman, polar tourism, George Mallory’s Everest camera, and the man who almost two centuries ago came up with the wheeze of exporting ice from America to India. Climate change obviously thrums through the narrative but this is not a didactic read, rather a thoroughly entertaining and absorbing one * New European *Despite its single subject, this is a book that thinks big – or at least, widely and in unexpected places . . . An unusually wide-ranging cultural and intellectual journey . . . Max Leonard’s writing is engaging and well-paced, and he breezily summarises the fruits of voluminous research with a deft touch . . . [A book] of striking revelations, intriguing connections and thought-provoking questions about how the human relationship with ice might yet develop -- Jonathan Dore * TLS *As this entertaining tale reveals, ice has the power to grind mountains to dust, destroy ships – and even swallow up a secret American nuclear bunker . . . This is a book about the marvel of nature and our intrepid, frequently crazy efforts to understand and harness that marvel -- Simeon House * Mail on Sunday *In a bracingly original book, Max Leonard makes something we all take for granted into an absorbing pathway into history, geography and science . . . A highly readable feast of insights and surprises . . . As the earth warms threateningly, there could hardly be a more pertinent time for a story like this -- Michael PalinA book of limitless fascinations, an elegant and subtle accounting of how ice has shaped and changed human life, and how in turn humans have imperilled the existence of icy places -- Olivia LaingA brilliant and surprising book on unexpected ways ice has influenced not just Western thought but the way we live now. Come for the research, stay for the unexpected cameos -- Jennifer Lucy AllanA pleasure on every page. It's packed with fascinating stories and unexpected connections. What you’ve done so successfully is to give the reader the chance to care for ice and to understand the role it’s had in our lives, real and imaginary. Everybody who reads your book will be captivated each time ice chinks and bobs in a glass. Ice is now our destiny. By melting en masse, it is bringing chaos to Earth systems -- Nicholas CraneBeautiful, thoughtful and utterly fascinating on everything from cave paintings to Captain Birdseye – the kind of book you feel compelled to share bits from as you’re reading -- Felicity CloakePut everything on ice and read this book - a wonderful history of ingenuity, wanderlust, preservation and exploitation. Max Leonard has written an original chronicle of human nature, and you’ll skate through it with enduring insight and pleasure -- Simon GarfieldFrom Otzi the Iceman to Alpine adventurers, the invention of the cold chain to cloud seeding, A Cold Spell fills the cryosphere with stories to reconnect us to this all-too-fragile, frozen world. Europeans may have sought mastery over ice for hundreds of years, but Leonard shows how ice has shaped us too: in his deft hands it becomes a mirror revealing "the extraordinary in the ordinary", bringing home both the awe and the unease of the Anthropocene -- Jay Owen

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Book Synopsis‘Beautifully written, sumptuously illustrated, constantly fascinating‘ - The TimesOn 26 November 1922 Howard Carter first peered into the newly opened tomb of an ancient Egyptian boy-king. When asked if he could see anything, he replied: ‘Yes, yes, wonderful things.’In Tutankhamun’s Trumpet, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes a unique approach to that tomb and its contents. Instead of concentrating on the oft-told story of the discovery, or speculating on the brief life and politically fractious reign of the boy king, Wilkinson takes the objects buried with him as the source material for a wide-ranging, detailed portrait of ancient Egypt – its geography, history, culture and legacy.One hundred artefacts from the tomb, arranged in ten thematic groups, are allowed to speak again – not only for themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them. Never before have the treasures of Tutankhamun been analysed and presented for what they can tell us about ancient Egyptian culture, its development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting impact.Filled with surprising insights, unusual details, vivid descriptions and, above all, remarkable objects, Tutankhamun’s Trumpet will appeal to all lovers of history, archaeology, art and culture, as well as all those fascinated by the Egypt of the pharaohs.‘I’ve read many books on ancient Egypt, but I’ve never felt closer to its people‘ - The Sunday TimesTrade ReviewBeautifully written, sumptuously illustrated, constantly fascinating and the work of a man who is practised at explaining the past to the present. -- David Aaronivitch * The Times *The cleverness of the book lies in how individual grave goods are used to crack open the mindset of a civilisation . . . This book thrums with life. To the ancient Egyptians, a pharaoh’s tomb was a “resurrection machine” and, in a sense, they were right. The dead cannot be resurrected but, through the artefacts they used, we can sense the lives they lived. I’ve read many books on ancient Egypt, but I’ve never felt closer to its people -- James McConnachie * The Sunday Times *The Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes 100 of the most curious of those finds and uses them to unlock the mysteries of Egyptian history and culture. -- Andrew Holgate and Laura Hackett * The Times '100 Best Books for Summer' *

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Book Synopsis'Geeks triumph over the forces of darkness: nothing could have given me greater pleasure. Combining an exciting story with scrupulous research, Caroline Shenton has done her unlikely heroes proud' - Lucy WorsleyAs Hitler prepared to invade Poland during the sweltering summer of 1939, men and women from across London's museums, galleries and archives formulated ingenious plans to send the nation's highest prized objects to safety. Using stately homes, tube tunnels, slate mines, castles, prisons, stone quarries and even their own homes, a dedicated bunch of unlikely misfits packed up the nation's greatest treasures and, in a race against time, dispatched them throughout the country on a series of top-secret wartime adventures. National Treasures highlights a moment from our history when an unlikely coalition of mild-mannered civil servants, social oddballs and metropolitan aesthetes became the front line in the heritage war against Hitler. Caroline Shenton shares the interwoven lives of ordinary people who kept calm and carried on in the most extraordinary of circumstances in their efforts to save the Nation's historic identity.Trade ReviewGeeks triumph over the forces of darkness: nothing could have given me greater pleasure. Combining an exciting story with scrupulous research, Caroline Shenton has done her unlikely heroes proud -- Lucy WorsleyAn engrossing and uplifting story of how some of the greatest treasures of Britains museum, gallery and library collections were protected and preserved during the darkest days of WWII -- Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the BooksAn engrossing and uplifting story of how some of the greatest treasures of Britains museum, gallery and library collections were protected and preserved during the darkest days of WWII -- Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the BooksShenton has the archivist's unerring eye for detail and the storyteller's instinct for what will make a compelling tale. It is brought to life with energy and confidence -- Julie Summers, bestselling author of JambustersEntertaining, surprising and full of brilliant vignettes, Shenton does justice to one of the great untold stories of the Second World War -- Josh Ireland, author of Churchill & SonFascinating, engaging and often eye-stretching, Caroline Shenton's account of the battle to save the nation's greatest treasures during wartime features a wonderfully eclectic cast of oddballs, bluestockings and endearingly eccentric aristocrats. A cracking read -- Giles MiltonShenton manages to combine scholarly and diligent research with a powerful narrative drive and a hugely entertaining taste for the anecdotal. Moreover, her cast of characters wouldn't disgrace an Ealing comedy. I haven't enjoyed a book so much in years -- Adrian TinniswoodReveals the wonderfully inventive ways Britain's great museums hid their priceless exhibits from Hitler's bombs -- Daily MailVigorously researched and highly entertaining -- Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Tree explores the forms, uses, and alliances of this living object's entanglement with humanity, from antiquity to the present. Trees tower over us and yet fade into background. Their lifespan outstrips ours, and yet their wisdom remains inscrutable, treasured up in the heartwood. They serve us in many ways—as keel, lodgepole, and execution site—and yet to become human, we had to come down from their limbs. In this book Matthew Battles follows the tree's branches across art, poetry, and landscape, marking the edges of imagination with wildness and shadow. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewWhat astonishingly good writing! What a joy of a book. What a mind, this Matthew Battles. As he writes about trees, Battles could as well be describing his own wild mind: 'uncanny, possessed of depths and mystery, and feral in ways beyond my ken, . . . overspilling with dark abundance, . . . richly disruptive to one’s daily commute.' * Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Great Tide Rising: Toward Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change (2016) and Piano Tide: A Novel (2016) *Battles … shows how trees--and perhaps more importantly our relationships with trees--are incredibly complicated. Even dappling--that wonderful light that comes through a tree’s leaves--is not as simple as it seems … He makes clear that trees and their data have important stories to tell. That is if we let them. * PopMatters *Table of ContentsPart One: Feral Trees The Tree of Heaven In a Dappled World A branching Heuristic Part Two: Garden and Forest In the Tree Museum From Ailanthus to Apple The Charter of the Forests Part Three: A Dark Abundance The Tree and/in History With and Without Us Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA beautiful memoir, travelogue, and meditation on stone by artist and stone mason Beatrice Searle.'What are you doing? If you don't mind me asking?'I say that we are taking this stone to Trondheim. I continue to tell her the story of Magnus and ancient Kings.'Would you like to stand in it?' I ask. 'That is what it is for.'At the age of twenty-six, Beatrice Searle crossed the North sea and walked 500 miles through Southern Norway on a medieval pilgrim path to Nidaros Cathedral, taking with her a 40-kilo stone from the West coast of Orkney.She had recently completed her masonry training at Lincoln Cathedral and become fascinated with the mysterious footprint stones of Scandinavia, Northern Europe and the ancient Greco-Roman world; stones closely associated with travellers, saints and the inauguration of Kings. Following in their footsteps, her stone becomes a talisman of sorts, a bedrock on the move, and an offering to those she meets along the way.Stone Will Answer is an unusual adventure story of resilience and homecoming, of weight and motion, of rediscovering love and faith, and of journeys practical, spiritual and geological. A captivating blend of exploration, memoir and myth, and an insight into a beguiling craft, it asks what lessons might be learned from stone, what we choose to carry with us and what we return to put down or pick up again.Trade ReviewExtraordinary... Confessional, elemental and at times moving, this is a memorable and unique celebration of the power and beauty of stone. * Guardian *Searle is an excellent storyteller... [and Stone Will Answer] make[s] for gripping reading... it's the human spirit that emerges triumphant in this sparky blend of memoir and travelogue... Above all, this is the story of a young woman's astonishing feat of endurance * Herald *A gifted writer, capable of luminous description * Spectator *Subtle and thought-provoking * TLS *Illuminating... I was quickly taken in by Beatrice Searle's distinctive voice, and by the end I couldn't help but feel very differently about stones, rootedness, belonging, and indeed what walking might mean. Beatrice's story is exceptional, and she is an exceptional story teller. -- Kerri Andrews, author of Wandering: A History of Women Walking

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Book SynopsisIconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of History surveys the origins, uses and manifestations of iconoclasm in history, art and public culture. It examines the various causes and uses of image/property defacement as a tool of political, national, religious and artistic process. This is one of the first books to examine the outbreak of iconoclasm in Europe and North America in the summer of 2020 in the context of previous outbreaks, and it examines the implications of iconoclasm as a form of control, censorship and expression.

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Book SynopsisIlya Budraitskis, one of the country's most prominent leftist political commentators, explores the strange fusion of free-market ideology and postmodern nationalism that now prevails in Russia, and describes the post-Soviet evolution of its left. He incisively describes the twists and contradictions of the Kremlin's geopolitical fantasies, which blend up-to-date references to "information wars" with nostalgic celebrations of the tsars of Muscovy. Despite the revival of aggressive Cold War rhetoric, he argues, the Putin regime takes its bearings not from any Soviet inheritance, but from reactionary thinkers such as the White émigré Ivan Ilyin. Budraitskis makes an invaluable contribution by reconstructing the forgotten history of the USSR's dissident left, mapping an entire alternative tradition of heterodox Marxist and socialist thought from Khrushchev's Thaw to Gorbachev's perestroika. Doubly outsiders, within an intelligentsia dominated by liberal humanists, they offer a potential way out of the impasse between condemnations of the entire Soviet era and blanket nostalgia for Communist Party rule-suggesting new paths for the left to explore.Trade ReviewBudraitskis magnificently dismantles several myths. This includes the myth that the entire socialist past can be reduced to the idea of 'totalitarianism', and the myth that Russian society is divided in two, between liberals who love freedom and the masses, mired in tradition and thirsting for despotic rule. -- Alexei Yurchak, author of Everything Was Forever Until It Was No MoreA deep analysis of contemporary Russian reality which deftly dismantles the many myths in which that reality is shrouded. Budraitskis's writings deal with several themes and periods, but common to them all is a sensitivity to the details of the context and a capacity to question dogmatic certainties. The texts are beautifully written, in a clear, precise, and stylistically fine-tuned prose. This extremely important collection allows us to look at Russian and many other post-socialist societies from a new standpoint. -- Alexei Yurchak, author of Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No MoreIlya Budraitskis brings immense historical knowledge, moral clarity, and political insight into these crucial essays on twenty-first century Russia. From his critical analyses of Russian culture wars and the "geopoliticization of Russia" to his path-breaking history of socialist dissidence and contemporary Left discontent, Budraitskis proves an adroit guide through the post-Soviet landscape. He directs us not simply to persistent authoritarianism and reaction but also to the unrealized political alternatives that remain to be activated by Left anti-capitalists today. -- Jodi Dean. author of ComradeIlya Budraitskis is a gifted writer- non-conformist, insightful, sharp and polemical. Essays collected in this volume succeed to challenge both liberal and illiberal clichés about Putin's Russia. -- Ivan Krastev, author of Is It Tomorrow Yet?Refusing the neo-Cold War nonsense that depicts Putin's Russia as an anti-imperialist bulwark or a reincarnation of Stalin's empire, Ilya Budraitskis has more important things to think about than this confected Clash of Civilisations. Whether uncovering the forgotten socialists among the Soviet-era dissident movement or tracing the emergence of a true post-Soviet left into the present day, his work is sophisticated, invigorating and ethically rigorous. -- Owen Hatherley

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Book SynopsisAn important book, brimming with insight.' Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse WhispererMaterial is generous, wise, fascinating and fundamentally humane.' Dan Richards, author of OutpostThrowing a pot. Building a bench. Sewing clothes. Creating a linocut illustration. Carving a spoon. What does it mean to make things with your hands in a digital age, full of mass-market, disposable items?Following the path trod by bestselling authors Lars Mytting, Robert Macfarlane and Barn the Spoon, craftsman Nick Kary explores what it means to be a maker. Through beautifully crafted writing filled with memorable craftspeople, landscapes, stories and scenery, Material is a rich celebration of what it means to imagine and create.Nick champions the voices of artisans across the UK, from potters to woodworkers, reminding us of the rich vein of knowledge and skills that d

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Ralph Gomory Prize, Business History Conference""Finalist for the PROSE Award in European History, Association of American Publishers""[A] sweeping economic, social and cultural history of central Europe. . . . unorthodox and engaging."---Marc Levinson, Wall Street Journal"A wide-ranging and thorough study. . . . this is a riveting story, well told . . . by Marchand, who illuminates so much in an original and entertaining way."---Tim Blanning, Literary Review"As Suzanne Marchand shows in her meticulous new book, porcelain has been integral to German life since its reinvention in Saxony in 1708." * The Economist *"As an economic-business history, Marchand's work is a landmark achievement. . . . Porcelain is a monumental achievement in scope and breadth in illuminating porcelain's European beginnings and its increasingly fragile position in the markets of the present."---Megan Brandow-Faller, Central European History"Marchand paints a colourful picture of the day-to-day life of porcelain factories."---Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth, Apollo"To weave together cultural, economic, and social history so masterfully takes great historiographical experience and skill. All those who are interested in nineteenth-century German intellectual history admire Suzanne Marchand’s books on the reception of classical antiquity and orientalism. Now she has surprised us with something completely new"---Jürgen Osterhammel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"Marchand, a specialist in German history, writes with clarity."---Norma Clarke, Times Literary Supplement"The remarkable achievement of Suzanne Marchand’s new book, Porcelain, which focuses especially on Germany, is that she moves beyond the celebrated age of discovery in the eighteenth century...to explore modern manufacture and diffusion across a broader consumer society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries .... While Meissen lies at the center of Marchand’s book, one of its great strengths is the broader survey of German porcelain manufacturing."---Larry Wolff, Journal of Modern History

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Book SynopsisIn The Language of Things Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, decodes the things around us: their hidden meanings, our relationship with them, how they shape our lives and why we desire them. Design is everywhere. It seduces, pleases and inspires us. It makes us part with our money. It defines who we think we are. An iPhone, an anglepoise lamp, a Picasso, a banknote, an Armani suit, a William Morris textile, a Lucky Strike packet, a spacecraft - every object tells a story. And understanding their stories offers us a whole new way of seeing the world. ''Articulate and wonderfully knowledgeable ... for anyone who takes an interest in the world around us''   Time Out ''A nightmare vision of a world drowning in objects ... witty, well observed and wide-ranging''   Guardian ''An elegant, witty and free-ranging survey, from Thomas Chippendale''s ponderous 18th-century manor-house furniTrade ReviewAn elegant, witty and free-ranging survey of industrial product design from Thomas Chippendale's ponderous 18th-century manor-house furnishings to Jonathan Ive's sprightly Macintosh iBooks * Telegraph *Sudjic's book rebukes designers for their arrogance and increasing self-importance ... readable, sharp and worthwhile * FT *The Language of Things is a happy trot through the colourful landscape formed by design's eternal alternation between use and allure * Evening Standard *Deyan Sudjic presents us with a nightmare vision of a world drowning in objects ... witty, well observed and wide-ranging * Guardian *As a confessional, the book is witty and honest, and Deyan Sudjic remains one of our most insightful commentators * Royal Academy magazine *Articulate and wonderfully knowledgeable ... a very nice object in itself ... much in here for anyone who takes an interest in the world around us * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisEvery literary household in nineteenth-century Britain had a commonplace book, scrapbook, or album. Coleridge called his collection Fly-Catchers, while George Eliot referred to one of her commonplace books as a Quarry, and Michael Faraday kept quotations in his Philosophical Miscellany. Nevertheless, the nineteenth-century commonplace book, along with associated traditions like the scrapbook and album, remain under-studied. This book tells the story of how technological and social changes altered methods for gathering, storing, and organizing information in nineteenth-century Britain. As the commonplace book moved out of the schoolroom and into the home, it took on elements of the friendship album. At the same time, the explosion of print allowed readers to cheaply cut-and-paste extractions rather than copying out quotations by hand. Built on the evidence of over 300 manuscripts, this volume unearths the composition practices of well-known writers such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, George Eliot, and Alfred Lord Tennyson, and their less well-known contemporaries. Divided into two sections, the first half of the book contends that methods for organizing knowledge developed in line with the period''s dominant epistemic frameworks, while the second half argues that commonplace books helped Romantics and Victorians organize people.Chapters focus on prominent organizational methods in nineteenth-century commonplacing, often attached to an associated epistemic virtue: diaristic forms and the imagination (Chapter Two); real time entries signalling objectivity (Chapter Three); antiquarian remnants, serving as empirical evidence for historical arguments (Chapter Four); communally produced commonplace books that attest to socially constructed knowledge (Chapter Five); and blank spaces in commonplace books of mourning (Chapter Six). Richly illustrated, this book brings an archive of commonplace books, scrapbooks, and albums to the reader.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Anatomy of the Commonplace Part I. Organizing Ideas 2: Commonplace Books of the Imagination 3: Laboratory Commonplace Books 4: Commonplace Books of History Part II. Organizing People 5: Social Commonplace Books 6: Commonplace Books of Mourning Coda

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Book SynopsisFrom the The New York Times best-selling author of Cod and Salt, a definitive history of paper and the astonishing ways it has shaped today’s world.Trade Review"The history of paper is a history of cultural transmission, and Kurlansky tells it vividly in this compact, well-illustrated book." -- The New York Times"Kurlansky’s book is published with a deckle edge finish, a process that replaces the regular clean-cut trim of a page with a jagged, pulped roughness... It is a beautiful thing to hold and feel, and it presents a fine argument for the retention of paper as an aesthetically lusty object, let alone one that’s thrived through centuries of change." -- The Observer"Kurlansky expertly argues a case for its [paper's] continuing survival." -- The Scotsman"Kurlansky... explains how something so simple came to play such a vital part in history." -- The Sunday Business Post"Paper is not what you would call a learned book, but one learns an awful lot from it, all packaged in Kurlansky’s whipsmart prose." -- The Times

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Book SynopsisOver the past ten years the study of dress history has achieved academic respectability. This book shows how the fields of dress history and dress studies are now benefitting from the adoption of new multi-disciplinary approaches and outlines the full range of these approaches which draw on material culture, ethnography, and cultural studies. -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Artefact-based approaches: collection, identification, conservation2. Artefact-based approaches: display and interpretation3. Approaches based on social, economic history, material culture and cultural studies4. Approaches using literary sources5. Approaches using visual analysis: paintings, drawings and cartoons6. Approaches using visual analysis of photography and film7. Ethnographical approaches8. Approaches using oral historyConclusion

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Book SynopsisPeter Dormer presents a series of lively, clearly argued discussions about the relevance of handicraft in a world whose aesthetics and design are largely determined by technology. One of the key questions discussed in the book is what makes the difference between a craft and a modern technology.Table of ContentsIntroduction: the salon de refuse?, Peter Dormer. Part 1 The status of craft: the history of craft, Paul Greenhalgh; how strange the change from major to minor, T.A. Heslop; craft and art, culture and biology, Bruce Metcalf; craft within a consuming society, Gloria Hickey; the progress of Captain Ludd, Paul Greenhalgh. Part 2 The challenge of technology: patterns of making, Helen Rees; craft and the Turing test for practical thinking, Peter Dormer; CAD/CAM and the British ceramic industry, Neal French; textiles and technology, Peter Dormer; tornadoes, T-shirts and technology, Jeremy Myerson. Part 3 Writing about the crafts: writing about the crafts, Rosemary Hill; writing about objects we don't understand, Jonathan Meuli; the language and practical philosophy of craft, Peter Dormer.

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Book SynopsisThe History of Cycling in Fifty bikes tells the story of the bicycle through 50 iconic machines

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Book SynopsisAn intimate portrait of Tudor England captured, revealed and explored in 100 defining objectsTrade ReviewEverything you wanted to know about the Merrie England of the Tudors and some things you probably did not. If the Tudors seem far removed, they are also curiously modern. They had spectacles and metal prosthetic arms, while a “fuming pot” was but a prototype Air Wick. Matusiak’s mini essays accompanying the photographs are perfectly sculpted and the book is beautiful to hold. -- Charlotte Heathcote * The Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisThe story of ocean liners brought to life by objects and ephemera, revealing life on board, luxury and magnificence, and peril and disaster

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Book SynopsisA treasure trove of gardening information in 50 often little known objects that have transformed the way we think about and work our gardens today.

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Book SynopsisColour permeates contemporary visual and material culture and affects our senses beyond the superficial encounter by infiltrating our perceptions and memories and becoming deeply rooted in thought processes that categorise and divide along culturally constructed lines. Colour exists as a cultural as well as psycho-physical phenomenon and acquires a multitude of meanings within differing historical and cultural contexts. The contributors examine how colour becomes imbued with specific symbolic and material meanings that tint our constructions of race, gender, ideal bodies, the relationship of the self to others and of the self to technology and the built environment. By highlighting the relationship of colour across media and material culture, this volume reveals the complex interplay of cultural connotations, discursive practices and socio-psychological dynamics of colour in an international context.Trade Review “The anthology forms part of a critical yet visionary tradition of interdisciplinary studies on colour. [It] shows that much is to be gained by analyzing colour beyond the symbolic. of a collection…and [by] moving beyond entrenched binaries.” · Journal of Design HistoryTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: Beyond the Language of Colour Chris Horrocks PART I: COLOUR AND VISUAL CULTURE Chapter 1. Ad Reinhardt: ‘Colour Blinds’ Michael Corris Chapter 2. The Eye Is a Sphincter (Who’s Afraid of the Postmodern Monochrome?) Antony Hudek Chapter 3. Colour Soundings: After the Tone of Francis Bacon Nicholas Chare Chapter 4. Capturing the Ephemeral. Colour as a Bridge between Art and Science Mary Pearce PART II: COLOUR AND MATERIAL CULTURE Chapter 5. Colour in Gardens: a question of class or gender? Beverley Lear Chapter 6. Critical Remarks on the Colour/Form Relation: Creating a Middle Ground Kiki Karatheodoris Chapter 7. Heidegger’s Pixel: Digital Colour as ‘Standing Reserve’ Chris Horrocks Chapter 8. The Disillusion of the Image: Cinematography, Colour, Sound and Desire Liz Watkins PART III: COLOUR, TEXT AND RACE Chapter 9. Chromatic Ambivalence: Colouring the Albino Charlotte Baker Chapter 10. Toussaint Louverture and Haitian Historiography: A Pigmentocratic Approach Charles Forsdick Chapter 11. “Linda Morenita”: Skin Colour, Beauty and the Politics of Mestizaje in Mexico Monica Moreno Index

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Book SynopsisThe Material Culture of Tableware is a fascinating and authoritative study of patterned tableware in the USA. This book undertakes a visual analysis of Johnson Brothers patterns of tableware pottery, with reference to comparable designs by other British companies, such as Spode and Adams. It examines how this practical genre reflected the aesthetic values, sense of identity and aspirations of the American consumers who purchased its products. The study also sheds light on British opinions and understandings of American culture. The book's chronological organization shows how tableware designs reflected the cultural developments of American society during the long 20th century. From status-seeking 1890s beaux-arts patterns and the nostalgic historical scenes of the 1930s, to whimsical 1960s patterns and the contemporary motifs of the 1970s, The Material Culture of Tableware tells a compelling story about who 20th-century middle-class Americans were and wanted toTrade ReviewA welcome addition to the existing body of literature ... Succeeds in expanding on the fact-based approach that such books usually boast. * Journal of Design History *Zarucchi serves up wonderful insights into the transatlantic tableware trade, which celebrates the influence of British design on American culture. * Rob Kesseler, Professor of Art, Design and Science at Central Saint Martins, UK *A rigorous survey of Staffordshire printed tableware and its export to America, across three centuries of this special cultural relationship. * Stephen Dixon, Professor of Contemporary Crafts at Manchester School of Art, UK *If you ever wondered where your dinnerware or antique souvenir plate was produced, this fascinating book is sure to inform you. * Anna Calluori Holcombe, Professor of Art at the University of Florida, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The “Picture” in the Shop Window 1. Old World Style for the New World 2. Allies in War and Trade 3. American History (the British Version) 4. Commemoratives and Souvenirs 5. Prosperity and Nostalgia 6. Modern Style, New Traditions Conclusion: Endings and Beginnings References Index

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Book SynopsisMoving Objects deals with emotive design: designed objects that demand to be engaged with rather than simply used. If postmodernism depended upon ironic distance, and Critical Design is all about questions, then emotive design runs hotter than this, confronting how designers are using feelings in what they make. Damon Taylor's original study considers these emotionally laden, highly authored works, often produced in limited editions and sold like art objects such as a chair made from cuddly toys, a leather sofa that resembles a cow, and a jewellery box fashioned from human hair. Tracing the phenomenon back to the Dutch inflection' that began with Droog designers like Jurgen Bey and Hella Jongerius, Taylor conducts an analysis of the development of Design Art and looks for its origins in the uncanny explorations of surrealism. Offering a critique of Speculative Design, and an examination of the work of designers such as Mathias Bengtsson, whose work involves gTrade ReviewMoving Objects offers an innovative framework for measuring value in design. Taylor touts examples that recall our humanity and heighten our awareness of everyday objects we take for granted ... If our emotions project onto our surroundings and into our work as Taylor suggests, Moving Objects provides a robust roadmap for using those emotions to shape – and view – our world more intentional. * Design and Culture *Moving Objects is a unique book. The study uses unexpected insights and connects previously separate disciplines and different types of design. Damon Taylor shows himself to be a brilliant researcher who enriches the design world with a great knowledge of design history, an original analysis of how design works and also thinks along with us about the future possibilities in design. -- Timo de Rijk, Director of the Design Museum Den Bosch, NetherlandsTable of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Droog: the Dry and the Moist 2. Framing Design Art 3. Viscerealities 4. Valuing Emotive Design 5. Rhetorical Devices and Lyrical Things 6. To the Ends of the Earth Notes Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAnthropologists have examined how diverse human populations modify and dress their bodies since the earliest days of the discipline. The Anthropology of Dress and Fashion: A Reader is the first authoritative anthology of the seminal writings of anthropologists studying clothing and fashion. From classic ethnographies of dress to cutting-edge contemporary research tracing the global circulation of clothing today, this comprehensive volume maps out this vibrant field of study's shifting preoccupations, theoretical innovations, and traditional and experimental methodologies. Comprised of over 40 curated extracts from the work of leading international scholars from Jonathan Friedman to Katherine Frank, the reader is divided into themed sections, each with an introduction and guide to further reading. With each extract introduced and contextualised, the reader will be an essential resource for students and scholars of fashion studies, social and cultural anthropology, material cultuTrade ReviewA major and seminal contribution to highlighting the research of fashion and dress anthropology that is not regarded as a formal subject of its own. * The Journal of Dress History *The contributions are diverse and interesting, while the sections are comprehensive and relevant ... The reader makes an excellent resource for both those teaching and those learning about anthropology's contribution to the study of dress and fashion. * Dress: Journal of the Costume Society of America *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Brent Luvaas and Joanne B. Eicher Part 1: Classic Works in the Anthropology of Dress and Fashion Preface 1. The Principle of Order in Civilization as Exemplified by Changes in Fashion A.L. Kroeber 2. Customs and Beliefs: Ceremonial Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown 3. Dress Ruth Benedict 4. Fashion Edward Sapir 5. Dress: Its Origins, Forms, and Psychology, with Special Emphasis on the Sexual Psychology A.E. Crawley Part 2: Theorizing Dress and Fashion Preface 1. Fashion -v- Anti-Fashion Ted Polhemus 2. The Social Skin Terence S. Turner 3. Clothing as Language: An Object Lesson in the Study of the Expressive Properties of Material Culture Grant McCracken 4. Definition and Classification of Dress: Implications for Analysis of Gender Roles Joanne B. Eicher & Mary Ellen Roach-Higgins 5. The Antisocial Skin: Structure, Resistance, and "Modern Primitive" Adornment in theUnited States Daniel Rosenblatt 6. Style and Ontology Daniel Miller Part 3: Material Culture Preface 1. The Other Half: The Material Culture of New Fibres Kaori O’Connor 2. Cloth and Clothing Jane Schneider 3. Jeanealogies: Materiality and the (Im)permanence of Relationships and Intimacy Sophie Woodward 4. Wild Silk Textiles of the Dogon of Mali: The Production, Material Efficacy, and Cultural Significance of Sheen Laurence Douny 5. Clothing sociality: Materiality and the everyday among the Kuna of Panama Margherita Margiotti Part 4: Dressing the Body in Culture Preface 1. Kalabari Cut-Thread and Pulled-Thread Cloth Tonye Victor Erekosima and Joanne B. Eicher 2. Cloth that Does Not Die: The Meaning of Cloth in Bùnú Social Life Elisha Renne 3. The Political Economy of Elegance: An African Cult of Beauty Jonathan Friedman 4. The Predicament of Dress: Polyvalency and the Ironies of Cultural Identity Deborah Durham 5. Body Talk: Revelations of Self and Body in Contemporary Strip Clubs Katherine Frank Part 5: Dressing the Colony, Fashioning the Nation Preface 1. Dressing for Dinner in the Bush: Rituals of Self-Definition and British Imperial Authority Helen Callaway 2. Fashioning the Colonial Subject Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff 3. The Ao Dai Goes Global: How International Influences and Female Entrepreneurs Have Shaped Vietnam's "National Costume" Ann Marie Leshkowich 4. Dress for Sukses:Fashioning Femininity and Nationality in Urban Indonesia Carla Jones 5. “Doing” Danish Fashion: On National Identity and Design Practices of a Small Danish Fashion Company Marie Riegels Melchior Part 6: Clothing, Class, and Competing Cosmopolitanisms Preface 1. Fashion, Anti-Fashion, and Heteroglossia in Urban Senegal Deborah Heath 2. Dressed to "Shine": Work, Leisure and Style in Malinda, Kenya Johanna Schoss 3. Fashionable Muslims: Notions of Self, Religion, and Society in San'a Annelies Moors 4. Landscapes of Attraction and Rejection: South Asian Aesthetics in Islamic Fashions inLondon Emma Tarlo 5. Forging Connections, Performing Distinctions: Youth, Dress and Consumption in Niger Adeline Masquelier 6. Fashionably Modest of Modestly Unfashionable? Eric Silverman Part 7: Making Global Fashion Preface 1. The Globalization of Asian Dress: Re-Orienting Fashion or Re-Orientalizing Asia? Carla Jones and Anne Marie Leshkowich 2. Haute Couture in Tehran: Two Faces of an Emerging Fashion Scene Alexandru Balasescu 3. Recasting Fashion Image Production: An Ethnographic and Practice-Based Approach to Investigating Bodies in Media Stephanie Sadre-Orafai 4. Ethnographic Entanglements: Memory and Narrative in the Global Fashion Industry Christina H. Moon 5. Making Clothes for International Markets: A Clothing Perspective on Globalization Jianhua Zhao 6. In Patagonia (Clothing): A Complicated Greenness Sharon J. Hepburn Part 8: The Afterlives of Dress and Fashion Preface 1. Other People's Clothes? The International Second-hand Clothing Trade and Dress Practices in Zambia Karen Tranberg Hansen 2. Making New Vintage Jeans in Japan: Relocating Authenticity Philomena Keet 3. Fake Brands Magdalena Craciun 4. On Cutting and Pasting: The Art and Politics of DIY Streetwear Brent Luvaas Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis*As read on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week*'A genius for a certain kind of social history that, in shining a light on one small place, illuminates a huge amount' Sunday TelegraphA toy train. A stack of letters. A tiny pulse glass, inherited from her great-great-grandfather, which was used to time a patient's heartbeat before pocket watches... Gillian Tindall, one of our most admired domestic history writers, examines seemingly humble objects to trace the personal and global memories stored within them, and re-animate the ghostly heartbeats of lost lives.'Elegiac... Tindall reflects on a lifetime's interest in historical recovery' The Telegraph'Tindall is a fine historian and writes with a wryness of everyday human foibles' The TimesTrade ReviewElegaic... Her books are carefully wrought acts of restoration... In The Pulse Glass, Tindall, reflects on a lifetime's interest in historical recovery -- Francis Wilson * The Telegraph *Tindall writes with affecting precision... Reading this book feels like looking out of the window on a long train journey. One is lulled by the rhythms into deep reflection and inexplicable nostalgia for the lives and landscapes of others -- Jessie Childs * History Today *Books of the Year* *An excellent suite of essays on transience and remembrance... Gillian Tindall is a high-minded Autolycus, devoted not merely to snapping up the “unconsidered trifles” of past lives but holding them to the light to glean the stories they might conceal -- Anthony Quinn * Observer *Tindall specialises in the overlooked, the underappreciated. She is very much a local historian, if you take that to mean that everything local can become universal; that the stories of ordinary people are as worth telling as the grand, the famous, the notorious... Tantalising... Tindall is a fine historian and writes with a wryness of everyday human foibles -- Emma Hogan * The Times *Gillian Tindall has a richly furnished mind, as full of pigeonholes and secret drawers as an old-fashioned Victorian desk… Tapping at floorboards, exploring cellars, leafing through yellowing love letters…she unearths what she can about the worlds we have lost -- Christina Hardyment * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Though we try to imagine otherwise, waste is every object, plus time. Whatever else an object is, it’s also waste—or was, or will be. All that is needed is time or a change of sentiment or circumstance. Waste is not merely the field of discarded objects, but the name we give to our troubled relationship with the decaying world outside ourselves. Waste focuses on those waste objects that most fundamentally shape our lives and also attempts to understand our complicated emotional and intellectual relationships to our own refuse: nuclear waste, climate debris, pop-culture rubbish, digital detritus, and more. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewFascinating, thought-provoking, and necessary, Brian Thill’s Waste is about not just our present but our future. You can’t read it and come out of the experience unchanged. * Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times-Bestselling Author of The Southern Reach trilogy *If 'waste,' as Brian Thill points out, is any object plus time, then Waste is waste plus spirited curiosity and tremendous intelligence. With a gaze full of vigor and heart, Thill looks at the fate of what we discard—from space junk to horse corpses to bird bellies split open from plastic—and illuminates invisible margins we’d often rather forget. I read the whole book in one sitting, spellbound. * Leslie Jamison, New York Times-Bestselling Author of The Empathy Exams *Waste is the finest filth around—or really the finest mediation of it I can think of: Thill looks deeply into how what we waste controls us at the level of the personal and the public—our discards become our fate and home both—and finds treasure. * Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night *Waste pluralizes, names a condition into which objects fall, takes us beachcombing, dumpster diving. ‘Waste is every object, plus time’… The true aim of Brian Thill’s book, however, is… that non-place to which waste is sent. We cannot afford… to believe in such a zone any longer. Of course, we never really could or did — out of sight was simply out of mind. Waste always kept coming back. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsThe beach that speaks Trash familiars/Tabflab Pigs in space Million-year panic Ruinism Splinter, shard, and stone Where the hoard is Lake Carbamazepine Acknowledgements Illustrations Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. During the breakdown of an unhappy marriage, writer Joanna Walsh got a job as a hotel reviewer, and began to gravitate towards places designed as alternatives to home. Luxury, sex, power, anonymity, privacy…hotels are where our desires go on holiday, but also places where our desires are shaped by the hard realities of the marketplace. Part memoir and part meditation, this book visits a series of rooms, suites, hallways, and lobbies—the spaces and things that make up these modern sites of gathering and alienation, hotels. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewWalsh’s writing has intellectual rigour and bags of formal bravery ... Hotel is a boldly intellectual work that repays careful reading. Its semiotic wordplay, circling prose and experimental form may prove a refined taste, but in its deft delineation of a complex modern phenomenon — and, perhaps, a modern malaise — it’s a great success. * Financial Times *[A] slyly humorous and clever little book ... [Walsh moves] effortlessly and imaginatively from one thing to the next ... with utter conviction in each step. I loved Hotel and would read it again. -- Marina Benjamin * New Statesman *A slim, sharp meditation on hotels and desire. ... Walsh invokes everyone from Freud to Forster to Mae West to the Marx Brothers. She's funny throughout, even as she documents the dissolution of her marriage and the peculiar brand of alienation on offer in lavish place. * The Paris Review *Evocative ... Walsh's strange, probing book is all the more affecting for eschewing easy resolution. * Publishers Weekly *Joanna Walsh is fast becoming one of our most important writers. Hotel is a dazzling tour de force of embodied ideas. * Deborah Levy, author of Black Vodka *Subtle and intriguing, this small book is an adventure in form. Part meditation on hotels, it mingles autobiography and reflections on home, secrets, and partings. Freud, Dora, Heidegger, and the Marx Brothers all have their moments on its small, intensely evocative stage. * Lisa Appignanesi, author of Trials of Passion *Featured in The Literary Hub * The Literary Hub *[Walsh] is the author of a short book in Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series called Hotel. With Heidegger, Freud, and Greta Garbo as touchpoints, the pieces use details from her job reviewing hotels and her unraveling marriage to meditate on desire, aphonia, immobility, and isolation. [T]he book is driven by an intense self-consciousness, but perhaps because it doesn’t need to make even a gesture toward fiction, there’s more linguistic play in here, more aphorisms you want to copy onto a postcard and send to your unhappiest smart friend. * Darcie Dennigan, The Rumpus *Walsh has been praised to the skies by Chris Kraus and Jeff Vandermeer, and it isn’t hard to see why. Her writing sways between the tense and the absurd, as if it’s hovering between this world and another. -- Jonathan Sturgeon * Flavorwire *Object Lessons is ‘an essay and book series on the hidden lives of everyday things’ which takes quotidian objects as a starting point for analysis. … Hotel joins other intriguing, minimalist non-fiction titles such as Remote Control, Silence, and Phone Booth. Part personal reflection, part semiotic and symbolic interrogation, Hotel takes on a playful format. ... Alongside the intelligent analysis and playful structure, Joanna Walsh captures something innately surreal and peculiar about hotels. * Glasgow Review of Books *Walsh brings together autobiographical experience and reflection ... [to] illuminate aspects of the experience of the hotel: from Freud to Groucho Marx, from Mae West to Heidegger. * Corriere della Sera (Bloomsbury translation) *Writer Joanna Walsh, after the collapse of her marriage, became a hotel reviewer. She recounts the experience of staying in and reviewing hotels in Hotel, published by Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series. … The hotel stands in for what should be, or simply what was, but is no longer. ‘A hotel sets itself apart from home and, in doing so, proves rather than denies home’s existence,’ Walsh writes. Ruminating on what went wrong in her marriage, she realizes at its center is the idea of what makes something — or someone — a home. * Jessica Ferri, Barnes and Noble Review *It's a knock out. Completely engaging, juicy and dry—such a great book. * Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick *Hotel, part of Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series about “the hidden lives of ordinary things” (other books are about everything from dust to shipping containers and refrigerators)… is a clean, almost geometric work, the breakdown of the personal sphere encased in the sanitised environment of the hotel.… Such descriptions may make Walsh’s work seem overly theoretical, which would belie the pleasures that can be found in virtually every sentence. One of the singular joys in Walsh’s prose is how she questions and twists language systems until familiar words and expressions become uncanny, portals to a stranger world... * Agri Ismaïl, Minor Literature[s] *Object Lessons is ‘an essay and book series on the hidden lives of everyday things’ which takes quotidian objects as a starting point for analysis. … Hotel joins other intriguing, minimalist non-fiction titles such as Remote Control, Silence, and Phone Booth. Part personal reflection, part semiotic and symbolic interrogation, Hotel takes on a playful format. ... Alongside the intelligent analysis and playful structure, Joanna Walsh captures something innately surreal and peculiar about hotels. -- Laura Waddell * Glasgow Review of Books *…For all the apparent personal revelations, the bond we form with [Walsh’s] persona remains profoundly casual, bound only by the time and space delimited by the number of hours, days, and nights we spend with her Hotel. The book takes the form of a series of snatched conversations in and around hotels with characters fictionalized from Freud, the Marx Brothers, and the cast of Grand Hotel (1932). Walsh disappears or retreats into this series of disconnected texts, postcards, and overheard conversations. Ultimately the lesson resides in this combination of intimacy and distance, of narrative lack and narrative fantasy, as constituted by the hotel, an object, symbolized best by the revolving door of Grand Hotel. ‘Grand Hotel ... always the same,’ opines Dr. Otternschlag. ‘People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.’ -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Part of Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons - a series of books about the hidden lives of ordinary things - Hotel by Joanna Walsh defies genre categories, much like Walsh herself. ... Just as Hotel defies genre in its moving between essay, meditation and memoir, its subtle and slippery content can’t be contained in a single review. Each reader will take something different from it, relate to a different experience or nod to a different allusion. Hotel is a clever little book that packs a punch, and Walsh is a writer whose sparse prose and contained voice endlessly surprises. -- Sian Norris * openDemocracy 50.50 Magazine *It feels like something you want to endlessly quote: sharp, knowing, casually erudite... there is power and an affecting gravitas in what Walsh does with detail. The actual operates in the book as lonely gesture, deprived of the clammy self-revelation that a lesser writer might emphasise in a desperate bid to hold the reader’s attention. Instead, we sift the fragments through other fragments: as sharp as her riffs on Freud and Heidegger are (and she’s calmly mocking and irreverent at times too, which helps) what a reader truly returns to is a more open, personal writing... It’s a formal victory, an accurate rendering of a scattered emotional state. -- Adam Rivett * Sydney Review of Books *Hotel … is essentially a memoir in the context of visits made to hotels by a reviewer who is at that time undergoing a personal marital breakdown. Many thoughts about the distinctions between hotel and home arise and are investigated, at the same time as an examination of Freudian theory. … These seemingly separate areas within the text of Hotel are blended together smoothly, to illuminate their connection, or sometimes are discordant and sharply juxtaposed. -- Jay Merill * Berfrois *Underneath Walsh’s clever wit and wordplay is a vein of melancholy that runs through the book. … Hotel…does not endeavor to explore all facets of hotel life. For instance, Walsh has little to say about hotel staff and writes sparingly about the decor; rather, she tells us what a hotel isn’t. Walsh mixes travel writing, pop culture, and personal narrative to great effect to underscore her own discontent. * San Diego City Beat *Object Lessons’ describes themselves as ‘short, beautiful books,’ and to that, I'll say, amen. … [I]t is in this simplicity that we find insight and even beauty. … Hotel by Joanna Walsh is essentially a memoir as she escapes to hotels as a way to avoid a failing marriage and contemplates who we are and what we do in these dwellings that are not ‘home.’ … If you read enough ‘Object Lessons’ books, you'll fill your head with plenty of trivia to amaze and annoy your friends and loved ones — caution recommended on pontificating on the objects surrounding you. More importantly, though, in the tradition of McPhee's Oranges, they inspire us to take a second look at parts of the everyday that we've taken for granted. These are not so much lessons about the objects themselves, but opportunities for self-reflection and storytelling. They remind us that we are surrounded by a wondrous world, as long as we care to look. * Chicago Tribune *Haunting and meditative: more about moods than about facts. * Book Riot *Table of ContentsPart I. Hotel Haunting 1. Hotel Haunting Part II. Fragments from a Hysterical Suitcase 2. Hotel Freud 3. Marriage Postcards 4. Hometel 5. Hotel Diary 6. In A German Pension 7. The Talking Cure 8. Hotel Marx 9. Postcards from 26 Hotels Notes Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Drones are in the newspaper, on the TV screen, swarming through the networks, and soon, we're told, they'll be delivering our shopping. But what are drones? The word encompasses everything from toys to weapons. And yet, as broadly defined as they are, the word “drone” fills many of us with a sense of technological dread. Adam Rothstein cuts through the mystery, the unknown, and the political posturing, and talks about what drones really are: what technologies are out there, and what’s coming next; how drones are talked about, and how they are represented in popular culture. It turns out that drones are not as scary as they appear—but they are more complicated than you might expect. Drones reveal the strange relationships that humans are forming with their new technologies. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewAdam Rothstein’s primer on drones covers such themes … as the representation of drones in science fiction and popular culture. The technological aspects are covered in detail, and there is interesting discussion of the way in which our understanding of technology is grounded in historical narratives. As Rothstein writes, the attempt to draw a boundary between one technology and another often ignores the fact that new technologies are not quite as new as we think. * Times Literary Supplement (reviewed by Christopher Coker) *Readers interested in technology and/or warfare will very much enjoy reading Drone… Adam Rothstein did an admirable job, writing about every aspect of drones in detailed and organized fashion… [T]hose keenly interested in the subject will gobble this up. -- George Erdosh * San Francisco Book Review *[Rothstein's] book is a rich collection of vignettes about how to imagine and comprehend the drone ... [Drone] really excels in tackling the multiple meanings, symbols, and narratives attached to drones, all of which provide a bird’s eye view (drone’s eye view?) of the terrain of contemporary debate ... for those beginning a research project, or just the curious, this small book packs a big punch. -- Ian G. R. Shaw, University of Glasgow * Antipode *Adam Rothstein's Drone presents this iconic figure of contemporary warfare-the disconcertingly alluring autonomous airborne machine-through the lens of a different kind of history. Privacy and tracking algorithms run side by side with the ethics of self-guided munitions, activist political programs butt heads with emerging corporate business strategies, and all of it is tied back to the earliest experiments in driverless vehicles, quaint ancestors of today's over-mythologized UAVs. In the end, Rothstein's book is an exploration of technical agency: Where did drones come from-and what do they want? * Geoff Manaugh, Editor of Landscape Futures: Instruments, Devices and Architectural Inventions and Author of the website BLDGBLOG *This lucid, visionary work is as close as one can get to science fiction without the baggage of science and/or fiction. Adam Rothstein's Drone will be a wonderful cultural artifact in twenty years. It will be like a broken pomegranate of contemporary speculations and anxieties. * Bruce Sterling, Author of The Zenith Angle and Professor of Internet Studies and Science Fiction at the European Graduate School, Switzerland *Portland writer and artist Adam Rothstein’s contribution to Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series digs into the history and meaning of autonomous aircraft—the ways they work, the tasks they perform, where they come from, and how the way we talk about them reflects the priorities and anxieties of our age. -- Ben Waterhouse * Oregon Humanities *Adam Rothstein’s Drone test[s] the water on what this technology might yet prove to be as it is successively explored and its limits and possibilities (military and civilian) discovered. What shall drones be? -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Four Technology Stories Chapter Two: The Military Drone Chapter Three: The Commercial Drone (or the hole where it ought to be) Chapter Four: Blinking Lights Chapter Five: Software and Hardware Chapter Six: The Non-Drone Chapter Seven: What the Drone is For Chapter Eight: The Drone in Discourse Chapter Nine: Drone Fiction Chapter Ten: Ourselves and the Drone Chapter Eleven: Aesthetics of the Drone Chapter Twelve: The Drone as Meme List of Images Bibliography Notes

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Book SynopsisThis edited collection explores a subject of great potential for both art historians and museologists – that of the nature of the specimen and how it might be reinterpreted. Through its cross-disciplinary contributions, written by a team of art historians, artists, poets, anthropologists, critics and curators, this book looks at how artistic encounters in museums, ranging from anatomy museums to contemporary cabinets of curiosity, can provoke new modes of thinking about art, science and curating. Museological literature in the past focused on artefacts or objects; this is an original contribution to the field and offers new readings of old issues, inspiring new understandings of the relationships between art, science and curating. Brings together international expertise from art practitioners, historians, creative writers and theorists in France, the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand. Contributions from creative practitioners draw upon their own experience of producing artworks in response to specific scientific collections while historians, anthropologists, critics and writers examine how museums stimulate, incite and otherwise inspire artistic awareness of science and its specimens. One of the most important contributions this book will make is drawing together several threads of research and practice to encourage interdisciplinary discussion. It provides new ways of thinking about the relationships between art, science, museums and their objects. It concentrates on the ways in which scientific collections kindle novel aesthetic strategies and inspire new scholarly interpretations of art, science, curating and epistemology. In so doing it will make a considerable contribution to the fields of art writing, creative practice, art theory, the history of science and curating. This book will appeal to academics, researchers, undergraduates and postgraduates studying fine art, curating, museology, art history, the history of science, creative writing; visual artists, curators, and other creative practitioners. Also of interest to museum audiences. Reading list potential.Table of ContentsIntroduction Edward Juler and Alistair Robinson 1: Narratives of the ‘Fetish’ John Mack 2: Curating Interobjectively in Museums Alistair Robinson 3: ‘A Readiness to Find What Surrounds Us Strange and Odd’: Objects in the Relational Curiosity Museum Marion Endt-Jones 4: Art, Science and the Mutant Object Rahma Khazam 5: Models of Subjectivity: Surrealism, Physics and Psychoanalysis Gavin Parkinson 6: Glimpsed Phantoms of Sensation: Or, a Psychogeographical Investigation of Various Anatomical Specimens with Reference to Christine Borland’s Cet être-là, c’est à toi de le créer! Edward Juler 7 … as far back as I will remember Nadia Lichtig 8: Poetry and the Pathology Museum: A Model of Difference Christy Ducker 9: The Scientist and the Magician Irene Brown 10: Choosing, Unpicking and Connecting: On Drawing Museum Objects Richard Talbot 11: Post-Specimens and Present Ancestors: Passing Fables and Comparative Readings at the Wildgoose Memorial Library Jane Wildgoose 12: Moving beyond the Specimen (From Drawing Objects to Drawing Processes) Gemma Anderson 13: Desiccation, Suspension, Extraction: The Inhuman Art of Christine Borland Andrew Patrizio Afterword: What’s at Stake? Ludmilla Jordanova

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Book SynopsisEn Sofía mathitéfsantes: Essays in Byzantine Material Culture and Society in Honour of Sophia Kalopissi-Verti contains a collection of thirty studies dedicated to Sophia Kalopissi-Verti by her students which celebrate the multifaceted academic and teaching career of Professor Kalopissi-Verti, Emerita of Byzantine Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The contributions cover a large variety of topics presenting unpublished archaeological material, suggesting new approaches to various aspects of Byzantine archaeology, material culture and art history. Geographically topics span a vast area from Constantinople to South Sinai and from Cyprus and Antiocheia to the Aegean Islands, continental Greece and Italy. Covering the period from the Early Byzantine to the Post-Byzantine period, they are organised in seven thematic sections: Urbanism and Architecture; Painting and Iconography; Stone Carving and Sculpture; Ceramics; Bone, Metal and Textiles; Coinage and Sigillography; Inscriptions, Portraits and Patronage. The broad thematic, chronological and geographic scope of the volume’s essays reflects the wide range of Kalopissi-Verti’s pioneering research and her own interests, to which she introduced her students and with which she inspired them.Table of Contents‘Aspects of Medieval Secular Imagery’: Representations of Warriors in Byzantine Glazed Pottery from Argos and Nauplio (12th-13th centuries) (Anastasia Vassiliou) [Open Access: Download]

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Book Synopsis‘A wonderful gallery of period items related to the Titanic and Olympic, presented and shared by some of the top researchers and collectors in the field. Many of these items are quite rare or unique, and are not often seen by the general public.’ – Bill Wormstedt, co-author of Recreating the TitanicThe basic facts of the Titanic’s story are well known: in April 1912 the largest ship in the world, described as ‘practically unsinkable’, set off on her maiden trip to New York. She would never make it there. Instead she would strike an iceberg just days into her journey and sink to the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean, taking nearly 1,500 people with her. She would remain there undisturbed for seventy-three years.Titanic Collections: Fragments of History is a two-part series showcasing rare and important artefacts relating to the history of RMS Titanic. Many collectors prefer to hide their treasures away, but the items presented in these beautiful books have been gathered by six well-known and respected researchers, authors, historians and collectors who want to share their acquisitions with the world.The Ship focuses on artefacts relating to the Titanic herself, ranging from carpet squares and floor tiles to crockery and bath tickets. Each beautifully photographed item brings the story of the Titanic to life, and all come together as a museum for your bookshelf.Trade ReviewA wonderful gallery of period items related to the Titanic and Olympic, presented and shared by some of the top researchers and collectors in the field. Many of these items are quite rare or unique, and are not often seen by the general public. -- Bill Wormstedt * co-author of Recreating the Titanic *In Titanic Collections: Fragments of History, the authors have shared generously from their extensive collections. We see rare objects which bring to life Titanic’s story – her brief life and its disastrous end. Highly recommended! -- Mark Chirnside * author of Olympic, Titanic, Britannic: An Illustrated History of the Olympic Class Ships *In an era where so many items disappear into private collections, never to be seen again, it is a pleasure to be able to experience the story of the brief life of Titanic in such an engaging and unique way … The esteemed group of authors behind Titanic Collections: Fragments of History has done a great service. -- Tad Fitch * co-author of On a Sea of Glass: The Life and Loss of the RMS Titanic *

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