Social and cultural anthropology Books

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Book SynopsisSchwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse.By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives.Trade Review"Brilliant... The case Schwartz makes... is compelling, the implications disturbing... An insightful book." -- Christian Science Monitor "An insightful study that winningly argues its subtitle." -- Philadelphia Inquirer "Schwartz lays out a convincing argument... [He] is a crisp, engaging writer with an excellent sense of pace." -- Austin American-Statesman "Schwartz offers helpful suggestions of how we can manage our world of overwhelming choices." -- St. Petersburg Times "Wonderfully readable." -- Washington Post "Schwartz has plenty of insightful things to say about the perils of everyday life." -- Booklist "With its clever analysis, buttressed by sage New Yorker cartoons, The Paradox of Choice is persuasive." -- BusinessWeek

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Book SynopsisI looked around and people''s faces were distorted...lights were flashing everywhere...the screen at the end of the room had three or four different films on it at once, and the strobe light was flashing faster than it had been...the band was playing but I couldn''t hear the music...people were dancing...someone came up to me and I shut my eyes and with a machine he projected images on the back of my eye-lids...I sought out a person I trusted and he laughed and told me that the Kool-Aid had been spiked and that I was beginning my first LSD experience...Trade ReviewThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is not simply the best book on the hippies, it is the essential book...the pushing, ballooning heart of the matter * New York Times *A life-changer, a rabble-rouser, a mind-blower, a gathering of the tribes, a call to arms, a manifesto for a new society, a car repair manual, a fly-on-the-paisley-patterned-wall account of a cultural revolution – a masterpiece! -- Jarvis CockerElectrifying * San Francisco Chronicle *An amazing book... A book that definitely gives Wolfe the edge on the nonfiction novel * The Village Voice *Every word seems placed with a care and a skill of contrivance... A major journalistic contribution to the future analysis of our own and America's strange period of this century * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisWill Storr is one of our best journalists of ideas The Status Game might be his best yet' James Marriott, Books of the Year, The TimesWhat drives our political and moral beliefs?What shapes our bitterest conflicts and wildest dreams?What makes you,you?Across the world, from Papua New Guinea to Tokyo and Manhattan, humans compete for status. Through games of dominance, virtue and success, it's an obsession that has driven the best and worst of us: the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution as well as spree killers and tyrants at the gates of Europe. But what makes status an all-consuming prize? And how can we wield our desire for it to improve our relationships, win social media battles and be the best in the workplace?A breathtaking rethink of human psychology, The Status Game will change how you see others and how you see yourself.Trade Review‘Will Storr is one of our best journalists of ideas … The Status Game might be his best yet’ James Marriott, Books of the Year, The Times ‘[The Status Game] challenged the way I think about the role of status in my own life and in some ways it made me feel less terrible about some of my unhealthy fixations. If you find yourself needlessly worried about status, it might do the same for you … I can’t stop thinking about it’ Sean Illing, Vox ‘Eloquent, entertaining’ New Statesman ‘Moving … Scholarly … Storr showcases a rare skill – the ability to use technical academic scholarship in solving a real-world problem’ Helen Dale, CapX ‘I haven’t finished reading The Status Game because I’ve only read it once. There's so much in this dazzling book I will be revisiting over and over again’Daniel Finkelstein, author of Everything in Moderation ‘The Status Game could not be more timely and provides a missing piece for understanding where we are, and how to get out of this mess … I can’t recommend it highly enough’Greg Lukianoff, co-author with Jonathan Haidt of The Coddling of the American Mind ‘Thought provoking and enlightening – you’ll be discussing The Status Game everywhere you go’ Sara Pascoe ‘Bursting with insights into the hierarchy-crazed hellscape of a world shaped by social media, this book confirms Will Storr’s own status as a master storyteller’Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women ‘A radical new theory of human nature … It should – quite appropriately – establish Will Storr as the finest science writer being published today’David Robson, author of The Intelligence Trap

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRemarkable . . . skilful storytelling . . . intrepidly adventurous and unconventional . . . couldn't be more relevant. The kinship he felt with the Inuit on that first visit saw the publication of a literary work that was well ahead of its time. -- Michael Segalov * Observer *Fearless reverse ethnology . . . gorgeous descriptions . . . an eye for absurdity . . . Kpomassie is a writer of enviable and maybe indispensable amiability and serenity . . . With his gaze and his mind continually turned out and facing forward, he is up to every predicament he encounters; he has the mother wit, the equanimity and the self-confidence of the epic hero -- London Review of Books * Michael Hofmann *Beautiful, compassionate, insightful . . . inner and outer landscapes both richly and honestly detailed . . . the furthest a book has taken me . . . Astonishing -- Johny Pitts * author of Afropean *A fascinating snapshot of Inuit culture and a reminder of the common threads that bind us all . . . a first-rate storyteller to the whole world -- Noo Saro-Wiwa * The Times *It is a long way in miles, but even longer in resilience, adventurous persistence and uncanny charm. . . . Kpomassie's book contains a catalogue of his impressions, combined with striking passages of fine writing. The result is the curious double perspective of a naïve visitor, combined with the controlled distance of a writer -- Paul Zweig * The New York Times Book Review *Warm, witty and joyful -- Ann Morgan * Financial Times *Surprising . . . this beautifully written, page-turning piece of unjudgmental anthropological reportage by a black man finding his soul through seeking the soul of the Inuit recognises an important lesson for today. -- Sue Prideaux * The Times *Pioneering and unforgettable * Mr Porter *An ebullient snapshot of a vanished age -- John Self * Observer New Review *

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Book SynopsisThe Times and Financial Times Book of the YearA revelatory model that explains how we buy, sell, work and live.'Absolutely brilliant.' Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow___Meet the business anthropologists seeking to explain how we buy, sell, work and think.From supermarkets to factories, trading floors to tech firms, their methods are revealing the hidden codes that define our lives.The result is a wholly new way to see human behaviour: anthro-vision.__One of the World's Top 50 Thinkers - Prospect'This engaging book argues why more businesses (and people) should look to anthropology if they want to succeed.' Books of the Year, The Times'Will turn your world upside down in the best possible way. Fun, profound and bursting with important insights.' Tim Harford'A terrific piece of work.' Thomas Friedman'Anyone working to rebuild a more equal world will benefit from Tett's well-argued case that to solve twenty-first-century problems, we must expand our fields of vision and fill in old blind spots with new empathy.' Melinda Gates'Tett provides readers with a new intellectual framework - grounded in her deep understanding of anthropology and her path-breaking journalism - that can fundamentally transform how we approach solving society's most wicked problems . . . I cannot recommend it highly enough.' Mariana Mazzucato'In a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, we need an antidote to tunnel vision, argues Gillian Tett. That antidote is Anthro-Vision . . . Admirers of her journalism will love this book, but they will also learn a great deal from it.' Niall Ferguson'A timely call for decision-makers to wean themselves off their dependency on big data and embrace the full complexity of human life.' Financial TimesTrade ReviewWill turn your world upside down in the best possible way: fun, profound and bursting with important insights. -- Tim Harford, author of HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD ADD UPMakes a compelling case that "anthro-vision" can help us understand ourselves, our tribes, companies and communities, and to reduce our wilful blindness . . . One of the glories of Anthro-Vision is that it never argues (as many do) that its way of seeing is the only way. It's a timely call for decision-makers to wean themselves off their dependency on big data and embrace the full complexity of human life. * Financial Times *A fascinating and compelling demonstration that all of us, especially economists, can benefit from the insights of anthropology: the worm's-eye, not just the bird's-eye, view of how people behave. -- Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England and co-author of RADICAL UNCERTAINTYDrawing on a wide breadth of case studies, Gillian Tett explains that whether you're marketing Kit-Kats in Japan or fighting the spread of COVID-19 in England, you need a more qualitative understanding of who people are and what they care about. Anyone working to rebuild a more equal world will benefit from Tett's well-argued case that to solve twenty-first-century problems, we must expand our fields of vision and fill in old blind spots with new empathy. -- Melinda Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and author of THE MOMENT OF LIFTAbsolutely brilliant . . . Very compelling examples. -- Daniel Kahneman, author of THINKING, FAST AND SLOW and NOISE

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Book Synopsis‘Fabulous.’ Dan Richards, author of Holloway ‘Terrifically strange and thrilling.’ Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley 'A modern-day bard.' Madeline Miller, author of Circe This is a book of literary activism – an antidote to the shallow thinking that typifies our age. In Courting the Wild Twin, acclaimed scholar, mythologist and author of Smoke Hole and Bardskull, Martin Shaw unravels two ancient European fairy tales concerning the mysterious ‘wild twin’ located deep inside all of us. By reading these tales and becoming storytellers ourselves, he challenges us to confront modern life with purpose, courage, and creativity. Martin summons the reader to the ‘ragged edge of the dark wood’ to seek out this estranged, exiled self – the part we generally shun or ignore to conform to societal norms – and invite it back into our consciousness. If there was something we were meant to do with our few, brief years on Earth, we can be sure that our wild twin is holding the key. After all, stories are our secret weapons – and they might just save us.Trade Review‘Terrifically strange and thrilling. One for all you storytellers.’—Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley‘This magical book underlines the ability of storytelling to rewrite reality while functioning as a practical—and highly personal—guide to the rewilding of the self.’—David Keenan, author of For the Good Times‘Courting the Wild Twin revels in the fabulous—the alchemy of story, primaeval nouse and narrative. Shaw is proof of William Blake’s adage that “Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not believed.” A thrilling exploration of ancient ambiguity, this book digs deep into the miraculous mulch of myth.’—Dan Richards, author of Outpost‘A book that comprehends the forests of the soul, written with fierce courage and audacious wildness.’—Jay Griffiths, author of Wild‘This remarkable, powerful, provocative and timely book is about the same size as your smartphone. Carry it in your other pocket, and every time you reach for your phone, take this out instead. Give your imagination, your activism, your poetic/mythic self some soul food. That’s what I did, and it delighted me every time.’—Rob Hopkins, author of From What Is to What If‘Martin Shaw turns words into stories and stories into unpredictable excursions in search of the Wild Twin within each and all. He reveals the importance of this often exiled, yet deeply necessary inner otherness, the very part that holds the secret sense of rapport and essential relatedness that entwines human nature with the heart of Mother Nature.’—Michael Meade, author of Awakening the Soul‘Courting the Wild Twin beckons us to step through the doorway that stories create, and reveals a pathway to awakening our relationship with the world around—and with ourselves.’—Dee Dee Chainey, author of A Treasury of British Folklore

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Book SynopsisWhen the fisherman dies Fleinvær stories spill out silver strings, like guts from a spring catch. But between these pages they survive. The Arctic Diaries chart generations of the characters, myths and misremembered details that make up the oral traditions of a windswept archipelago in Norway’s far north. Created over a single arctic winter, using stories gathered from the last surviving fisherman of Langholmen, this collection of poems are part history, part field notes, exploring what role the outsider plays in preserving the experience of another.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the 2016 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, Society for Humanistic Anthropology""Winner of the 2016 Gregory Bateson Prize, The Society for Cultural Anthropology""Finalist for the 2016 Northern California Book Awards in General Nonfiction, Northern California Book Reviewers""One of Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 in Business and Economics""One of Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 in Science""One of Flavorwire’s 10 Best Books by Academic Publishers in 2015""One of Times Higher Education’s Best Books of 2015""Highly original. . . . This book brilliantly turns the commerce and ecology of this most rare mushroom into a modern parable of post-industrial survival and environmental renewal."---Peter D Smith, The Guardian"There’s a double meaning to Tsing’s title. The mushroom is at the end of the known world because it’s hard to find, a secret tucked deep in the forest. But she’s also hinting at the end of the world as we know it, given our instinct for extracting as much from the earth as we can. Humanity has never seemed so finely calibrated and rationalized: the seamless journey of a very expensive mushroom from nature to a dinner plate tells this story."---Hua Hsu, New Yorker"Evolves into a well-researched and thought-provoking meditation on capitalism, resilience, and survival."---E. Ce Miller, Bustle.com"This was a year of many of books about the Anthropocene--the name now frequently invoked to describe an era of incalculable human impact on geological and ecological conditions. Few of these books are as focused and useful as Tsing's, which follows the supply chain of the Matsutake, the most valuable mushroom in the world, through ‘Japanese gourmets, capitalist traders, Hmong jungle fighters, industrial forests, Yi Chinese goat herders, Finnish nature guides, and more.' How else to negotiate the conditions--if there are any--for our survival?"---Jonathan Sturgeon, Flavorwire"A fascinating account of the biology, ecology, genetics and anthropology of the world's most valued mushroom."---Louise O. Fresco, Times Higher Education"A poetic and remarkably fertile exploration of the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, and what can still be done to stem its rapid deterioration."---Pankaj Mishra, The Guardian"A beautiful, humble book. . . . [A]nthropology at its best."---Darwin Bond Graham, East Bay Express"[Tsing] writes clearheaded prose with an ear for lyrical phrases. . . . [The Mushroom at the End of the World] is a wonderful meditation on how humans shape and distort the natural landscape, and in return, are shaped and distorted by a wildness of their own making."---Casey Sanchez, Santa Fe New Mexican"Tsing's extraordinary book provides an intimate account of the ecology of the matsutake and the work of the pickers, entrepreneurs and gourmets who bring it into the global economy. As such, The Mushroom at the End of the World is about much more than mushrooms. This is a book, perhaps above all, about the experience of living in precarious times and about life at the edges or in the cracks of the world system of capitalism. . . . A remarkable and elegantly conceived book that well rewards close attention."---John Miller, Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism"[An] extraordinary book."---Jim Igoe, American Anthropologist"The publisher can really be congratulated. Rarely can one immerse oneself into an academic work with informative and sensuous pictures and figures that set a pace and allow the reader to explore the senses of smelling, grabbing, searching and walking. Tsing's book is not a conclusive analysis of post-capitalist processes but an outline for living sensuously, creatively and freely with each other."---Jenni Mölkäken, Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society"The anthropologist Anna Tsing joins a range of scholars exploring the ongoing devastation of our environment and undoing the old binary of ‘nature' and ‘society'--in this case, taking the charismatic Matsutake mushroom as her protagonist, tracing its existence within ecosystems, markets, and cultures across the globe. I'm interested in this rather remarkable book, both in its empathetic meditations on ‘companion species' and in its experimental mode of history writing."---James Graham, Metropolis"An outstanding book that speaks to core questions in contemporary geography. . . . The Mushroom at the End of the World abundantly deserves the praises and awards it has garnered since its publication, and I could not endorse it more strongly."---William E. O'Brien, American Association of Geographers Review of Books"The book will be of considerable interest at the complex intersection of social science, natural science and humanities. That is where anthropology is ideally located but achieving this is rather rare. . . . Without ever lecturing at the reader or hammering on some academic conviction, the book instead reveals a range of things that are variously urgent and pleasant, keeping ecological disaster in sight while allowing plenty of time for curiosity, diversity and surprise."---Hjorleifur Jonsson, Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology"Provocative. . . . Beginning with an account of the matsutake mushroom, Tsing follows the threads of this organism to tease out an astonishing number of insights about life in the Anthropocene." * Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *"Through careful study of matsutake, [Tsing] discovers connections to other objects that create dynamic and moving webs across time and space. The methodological carefulness and precision, even on a sensuous level, is impressive. . . . The mushroom poses difficult questions about responsibility. . . . Tsing's well-researched and thought-provoking book is a testament to that."---Jenny Jarlsdotter Wikström, Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities"Tsing weaves an adventurous tale. . . . Her engrossing account of intersecting cultures and nature's resilience offers a fresh perspective on modernity and progress." * Publisher's Weekly *"Unusually rewarding. . . . Bursting with ideas and observations, Tsing's highly original ethnographic study follows this spicy smelling mushroom's global commodity chain. . . . Consistently fascinating, [Tsing's] story of the picking and selling of this wild mushroom becomes a wonderful window on contemporary life." * Kirkus Reviews *"An original analysis of the value regime of our current capitalist economy. . . . Tsing's contribution to the debate on valuation and evaluation is important in that it points to the relevance, both in research and in politics, of noticing the nonscalable value regimes embedded in life processes."---Laura Centemeri, Tecnoscienza: Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies

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Book SynopsisDo lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a sick sense of humour? What is John Updike''s deal anyway? And who won the Adult Video News'' Female Performer of the Year Award the same year Gwyneth Paltrow won her Oscar? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in his new book of hilarious non-fiction. For this collection, David Foster Wallace immerses himself in the three-ring circus that is the presidential race in order to document one of the most vicious campaigns in recent history. Later he strolls from booth to booth at a lobster festival in Maine and risks life and limb to get to the bottom of the lobster question. Then he wheedles his way into an L.A. radio studio, armed with tubs of chicken, to get the behind-the-scenes view of a conservative talkshow featuring a host with an unnatural penchant for clothing that only looks good on the radio. In what is sure to be a much-talked-about exploration of distinctly modern subjects, one of the sharpest minds of oTrade ReviewHe is eloquent, scathing, precise and very funny * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *Wallace's voice comes zinging off the page, reinforcing the school of thought that says he's some type of maybe-genius doing something they haven't invented a word for yet * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *A writer of virtuostic talents who can seemingly do anything * NEW YORK TIMES *Wallace is a superb comedian of culture . . . his exuberance and intellectual impishness are a delight * James Woods, GUARDIAN *

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Book SynopsisDesmond Morris was born in 1928. Educated at Birmingham and Oxford universities, he became the curator of mammals at London Zoo in 1959, a post he held for eight years. In 1967 he published The Naked Ape which was to sell over 10 million copies worldwide. An accomplished artist, television presenter and film maker, Desmond Morris's works have been published in over thirty-six countries.Trade ReviewThe naked ape will be a wiser and better hominid by the time he has thumbed his way through to the end * Observer *An extremely important book...eminently readable and richly illustrated -- Niko Tinbergen, Nobel Prize Winner for PhysiologyThis is the kind of book you pick up idly and put down very reluctantly * Daily Mirror *A clear and careful introduction to an involved subject * The Times *

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Book SynopsisWhat if we could do better than the family?We need to talk about the family. For those who are lucky, families can be filled with love and care, but for many they are sites of pain: from abandonment and neglect, to abuse and violence. Nobody is more likely to harm you than your family.Even in so-called happy families, the unpaid, unacknowledged work that it takes to raise children and care for each other is endless and exhausting. It could be otherwise: in this urgent, incisive polemic, leading feminist critic Sophie Lewis makes the case for family abolition.Abolish the Family traces the history of family abolitionist demands, beginning with nineteenth century utopian socialist and sex radical Charles Fourier, the Communist Manifesto and early-twentieth century Russian family abolitionist Alexandra Kollontai. Turning her attention to the 1960s, Lewis reminds us of the anti-family politics of radical feminists like Shulamith Firestone and the gay liberationists, a tradition she traces to the queer marxists bringing family abolition to the twenty-first century. This exhilarating essay looks at historic rightwing panic about Black families and the violent imposition of the family on indigenous communities, and insists: only by thinking beyond the family can we begin to imagine what might come after.Trade ReviewSharp, engaging, and bursting with intellectual energy, Abolish the Family is a triumph. Whether you come to this book as a critic of The Family or as its most ardent supporter, you're sure to find something within its pages to move, challenge, or provoke you. It's a joy to read, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. -- Helen HesterI am consistently dazzled by Sophie Lewis's work, which is both intellectually capacious and heart-expanding. Abolish the Family is a liberatory demand and a world-making project proposed here with revolutionary love and inimitable style. Without fail, Lewis clarifies, disrupts and inspires. -- Natasha Lennard, author of Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist LifeThe idea of family abolition tends to provoke skeptical reactions: Can't families be a source of solidarity? Without families, who would we count on when things get tough? Shouldn't we protect vulnerable families, ostracized families, separated families? Sophie Lewis faces up to the hard questions without flinching, while ultimately steering us towards different ones: How else could we live, and who else could we be? Abolish the Family is a rigorously utopian, radically compassionate, unapologetically revolutionary manifesto, by equal parts thrilling and sobering. We all deserve better than the family, Lewis argues, and it's up to all of us to build new forms of solidarity and care that reach beyond biology or even kin, even if we don't know quite what they'll look like. Abolish the Family will make you want to find out. -- Alyssa BattistoniSophie Lewis once again shines forth as one of the boldest thinkers of our current moment with this highly anticipated sequel to her groundbreaking Full Surrogacy Now. How might we understand caring, sharing, and loving outside the concept of kinship? In this energizing little book - part history and critical analysis, part manifesto - Lewis helps us understand family abolition as world-making rather than as a subtraction of infrastructure, and she does so with remarkable clarity, precision, and wit. -- Sianne Ngai, author of Theory of the Gimmick: Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist FormWhat would it be like to imagine a communism not just of wealth but also of care, love and belonging? Where the full range of human needs are met without depending on the fragile bubble of the nuclear family? That institution we are all supposed to believe will be there for us - even though so many books and films detail all the ways in which it fails. This is the difficult yet important terrain where Sophie Lewis ventures. Abolish the Family is a short, sharp shock to our assumptions about the good life and how to achieve it. -- McKenzie WarkIn her writing, Lewis shows us the kind of feminist care that is within our reach and the intellectual work we must do to actualise it. Generous, charged and always underpinned by a comradely orientation to its reader, Abolish the Family traverses historical and contemporary arguments for unmaking the bourgeois family and methodically interrogates the idea that it is an unshakeable, ubiquitous institution that must be protected at all costs. Lewis draws on a number of radical political genealogies to say "no" - the nuclear family is a deficient provider of care and resource, a conceptual footstool for the racist nation-state and its many border regimes, a hotbed of gendered exploitation and violence...there are other possibilities! Let's embrace them together! -- Lola OlufemiSophie Lewis and her expansive vision of feminism are desperately needed right now. She makes the work of undoing what 'womanhood' has come to mean look possible and irresistible. -- Melissa Gira Grant, author of Playing the WhoreSophie Lewis is at the top of a new generation of scholars and activists thinking the transformation of gestational labor within contemporary pharmacopornographic capitalism. Neither simply natural nor banally cultural, gestation appears as the unthought core of gender and sexual politics, and the key of a forthcoming womb revolution: trans-Marx meets mammal's politics! -- Paul B. Preciado, author of Testo JunkieA bracing invitation to think beyond an institution that immiserates so many but that, for just as many, remains a fixed point of social possibility. Sophie Lewis is, as always, sharp, bold, compassionate and fearless. -- Amia Srinivasan, author of The Right to SexSophie Lewis is at the forefront of a vital queer, trans, feminist communist movement to create an expansive field of revolutionary theory and strategy for today. Abolish the Family is an important contribution to Lewis's already discourse-shaping body of work, analyzing and seeking ways to move beyond the contradictory and complex function of families under conditions of extreme capital accumulation and capitalist crisis. A call for liberation from the privatization of domestic labor and the cruel scarcities of care under capitalism, Abolish the Family exhorts us toward something so much better than what we've got. -- Jordy Rosenbery, author of Confessions of the FoxA lively, sharp and relatively short primer on family abolition ... Lewis does not pretend to have all the answers, but makes a solid case for joining her in finding them. -- Amy Hall * New Internationalist *Sophie Lewis is our most eloquent, furious and funny critic of how the family is a terrible way to satisfy all of our desires for love, care, nourishment. -- Erin Maglaque * New Statesman *Thrilling. -- Emily Kenway * Refinery29 *A timely provocation. -- Tom Whyman * ArtReview *The manifesto I needed. -- Zakia Uddin * White Review, Best Books 2022 *Anchored in a strikingly hopeful feminist Marxism, Lewis leads the reader through a systematic, didactic introduction to the politics and possibilities of cutting ourselves loose from the constraints and impositions of the traditional patriarchal, capitalist family. -- Hanne Blank * LIBER *Lewis builds a harsh yet well-grounded portrait of familial dysfunction. This provocation stings * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis''Extraordinary. An intellectual feast as well as a visual one''Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber EyesThe world comes to us in colour. But colour lives as much in our imaginations as it does in our surroundings, as this scintillating book reveals. Each chapter immerses the reader in a single colour, drawing together stories from the histories of art and humanity to illuminate the meanings it has been given over the eras and around the globe. Showing how artists, scientists, writers, philosophers, explorers and inventors have both shaped and been shaped by these wonderfully myriad meanings, James Fox reveals how, through colour, we can better understand their cultures, as well as our own. Each colour offers a fresh perspective on a different epoch, and together they form a vivid, exhilarating history of the world. ''We have projected our hopes, anxieties and obsessions onto colour for thousands of years,'' Fox writes. ''The history of colour, therefore, is also a history of humanity.''Trade ReviewA book to brighten the dullest days -- Rachel Campbell-Johnston * The Times (Books of the Year) *A brilliantly fluent and readable history of colour -- Honor Clerk * Spectator (Books of the Year) *Fairly shimmers with Fox's eye for arresting facts and anecdotes -- Kassia St Clair * Times Literary Supplement *Intelligent, vividly written ... I'm going to buy three copies -- Laura Freeman * The Times *Flits with enthusiasm and lightly worn learning from Bronze Age gold-workers to Turner, Titian to Yves Klein -- Simon Ings * Daily Telegraph (Books of the Year) *Colour becomes a philosophical feast - astrophysics, the origins of civilisation, a palette of moral associations -- Ed Smith * New Statesman (Books of the Year) *A manual to navigate and enjoy the extraordinary design of the world around us -- Anna Galbraith * Mail on Sunday *Leads down some wonderful rabbit holes -- Chris Allnutt * Financial Times *A book that makes you want to paint -- Joad Raymond * BBC History Magazine *

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Book SynopsisA bright portrait of modern Africa that pushes back against harmful stereotypes to tell a more comprehensive story.'Warm, funny, biting and essential reading.' Adam Rutherford'An exhilarating journey through the myths, misconceptions and stereotypes of modern Africa. This book is the history lesson that we all need.' Jeffrey Boakye, GuardianYou already know these stereotypes. So often Africa is depicted simplistically as an arid red landscape of famines and safaris, uniquely plagued by poverty and strife.In this funny and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective. He examines each country's colonial heritage, and explores a wide range of subjects, from chronicling urban life in Lagos and the lively West African rivalry over who makes the best Jollof rice, to the story of democracy in seven dictatorships and the dangers of stereotypes in popular culture.By turns intimate and political, Africa Is Not A Country brings the story of the continent towards reality, celebrating the energy and fabric of its different cultures and communities in a way that has never been done before.'Hilarious, ferocious, generous and convincing. It made me reconsider almost everything I thought I knew about Africa.' Oliver Bullough'This book should be on the curriculum.' Nikki May, author of WahalaTrade ReviewAn exhilarating journey through the myths, misconceptions and stereotypes of modern Africa. This book is the history lesson that we all need, to understand the damage that has been done by legacies of white supremacy affecting African nations and the whole world. -- Jeffrey Boakye * Guardian *Warm, funny, biting and essential reading. -- Adam Rutherford, author of How To Argue With A RacistPowerful and heartfelt... A long-overdue and compelling corrective... Faloyin has written a book inspired by love and hope for a much-abused and maligned continent, whose future, he insists, is filled with promise. * Guardian *For curious minds... a truly revelatory read... a book that will stay with you long after you've finished - and one that opens a new chapter on the way you'll think about Africa. * Mail on Sunday *Impossible not to relish. * New York Times *This book should be on the curriculum. -- Nikki May, author of WahalaA necessary book that deserves its place in the canon as essential reading. -- Sally Hayden * Irish Times *A masterpiece in historical journalism, bristling with insights and perspective widening truths. Anyone seeking enlightenment needs to read this. -- Jeffrey Boakye, author of I Heard What You SaidHilarious, ferocious, generous and convincing. -- Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland and Butler to the WorldIncisive, thought-provoking and, above all, beautifully written - effortlessly blends memoir, political analysis and historical nonfiction to create something genuinely compelling and new -- Zing Tsjeng, author of Forgotten WomenA triumph of a book...charismatic and hugely enjoyable...You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't read this. -- Nels Abbey, author of Think Like a White ManA brilliant, prescient exploration of a richly complex continent. An antidote for our times. -- Irenosen Okojie, author of NudibranchImpeccably researched...brimming with humor and intellect. A necessary read. -- JK Chukwu, author of The UnfortunatesA vital book that offers us new, complex narratives to view African countries and their relationships to Europe and the Global North. Faloyin's stylish, propulsive prose blends history, memoir and opinion, so that reading him has the impression of being at the knee of a great storyteller. -- Jonathan Nunn, editor of Vittles

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Book Synopsis‘I mean who cares about opinions, gossip, whatever, when bodies are so vulnerable, in search only of love and breath.’ Brilliant young writer Ellena Savage explores Portuguese police stations and Portland college campuses, suburban Melbourne libraries and wintry Berlin apartments. She circles back to scenes of crimes or near-crimes, to lovers or near-lovers, to turn over the stones, re-read the paperwork, check the deeds, approach from another angle altogether. These essays traverse cities and spaces, bodies and histories, moving through forms and modes to find a closer kind of truth. Blueberries is ripe with acid, promise, and sweetness.Trade Review‘In this electric collection of personal essays, Savage leads readers through a range of subjects … There is so much to admire in Savage’s literary style … Savage deftly shifts between stylistic devices, narrative voices, and time, and the result is breathtaking … The collection, for all its differences in tone, content, and structure, comes together beautifully.’ -- Roz Bellamy * The Guardian *‘Savage explores the sites of identity — trauma, gender, class, religion, the body — in clear rhythmic prose.’ -- Natasha Randall * TLS *‘Ellena Savage is savagely smart and talented.’ -- Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room‘Ellena Savage is a rare kind of true intellectual, a voice that rises above the cacophony with remarkable insight. In Blueberries she cuts fearless swathes through the ways that we write and think and live now and leaves us far better for it: the book is unsettling, life-affirming and essential.’ * Jean Hannah Edelstein, author of This Really Isn’t About You *‘Once I started reading Blueberries, I found it almost impossible to put down. It’s fascinating to watch Ellena Savage’s mind at work in this book — her essays unfurl, expand and dance in unexpected and satisfying ways. This is a masterful, fearless book in which strength and vulnerability collide.’ -- Chelsea Hodson, author of Tonight I’m Someone Else‘Blueberries feels like laying down on the train tracks and looking up at the sky — a reverie, shot through by a feeling of acceleration, of something vast coming at you. Ellena’s essays are heartstopping epics of self-inquiry and world-inquiry.’ -- Maria Tumarkin, author of Axiomatic‘Quite simply one of the best essay collections of the last twenty years.’ -- Chloe Walker * CultureFly *‘A breathtaking interrogation of the self in the world; the self within structures of power and oppression … Blueberries is exciting and distinctive.’ STARRED REVIEW * Books+Publishing *‘Reading Ellena Savage’s Blueberries engaged me completely. Savage’s sparkling writing is bold, witty, insightful, fearless, and funny. It emerges from an astute mind at odds with itself, with culture and society. Savage wrestles and plays with received ideas of all kinds, and with what has and hasn’t shaped her. Savage’s fierce essays and stories are true to a lived life, and fascinating and irresistible.’ -- Lynne Tillman, author of Men and Apparitions: A Novel‘Ellena Savage, in Blueberries, confronts the past convulsively, compulsively. In dialogic language and form, the author, facing memory’s traumas and perplexities, and also its delights, is constantly aware that it's all about the translation of experience from the private to the public realm. In extremis, which is where Savage shines especially, it's as if she saying to the "repressed": go ahead and return; make my day.’ -- David Lazar, Professor of Creative Writing, Columbia College Chicago‘Savage navigates delicate and difficult terrain with wit, ruthless scrutiny and painfully sharp analysis … If Yellow City is any indication, Blueberries will be one of the most exciting debuts of the new year.’ * Overland *‘The 15 essays contained here wear various guises, from experimental prose to poetry, memoir to polemic to cultural critique. … Savage’s idealism and eloquence are a much-needed counterbalance to our by-now-threadbare belief that all the hard questions of how to order our world have been answered, that everything unsettling such certainty is a glitch, to be soldered onto the technocratic motherboard and run through the circuits of the polity. Blueberries is an adamant and unruly book. It is also the most exciting work of creative nonfiction to be published in this country since Maria Tumarkin took up the pen.’ -- Geordie Williamson * The Australian *‘In fifteen works, Savage blends memoir, personal essay, stream of consciousness, journalism, and prose poetry to interrogate the messy and fragmented life of a writer, a woman, and a body … A masterclass in experimental nonfiction…Savage is fiercely intelligent and manages to inject dry humour into even the most serious topics, creating a delicate balance between dire existentialism and life-affirming joy. By questioning the very nature of memoir itself, Savage breathes new life into the non-fiction form and considers what it means to be alive in today’s uncertain world.’ -- Chloë Cooper * Kill Your Darlings *‘Savage plays with form like a poet, and excavates the roots of her experience with an impressive generosity and fierce intelligence that mirror her mentor, Maria Tumarkin … Fans of Tumarkin and Jia Tolentino should hunt this down … and luxuriate in a recent past where whiplash-inducing international travel was an option.’ -- Jo Case * InDaily *‘[F]or fans of the understated yet insightful prose of Rachel Cusk and Sally Rooney … Wrestling with the intricacies of memory, identity, class and trauma, [Blueberries] sees Savage contemplate her past with unflinching clarity … Take it to your next book club.’ * Elle Australia ‘Book of the Month’ *‘Ellena Savage has produced a collection that defies categorisation but is fervently experiential, candid, and original.’ * Readings Monthly *‘For fans of Maria Tumarkin, Kathy Acker, and Maggie Nelson, Blueberries marks Savage as an experimental writer and essayist to watch.’ * Adelaide Review *‘Blueberries asks piercing questions about power, desire, and violence. The essays explore what it means to be an artist, a body, a woman, a friend, a lover, a daughter — and how these roles intersect with systems of oppression. Each essay has its own form and process, but in each one Savage focuses her sharply analytic eye on the world she moves through — as well as on herself.’ -- Caitlin McGregor * Australian Book Review *‘A collection of finely judged personal essays … The writing is great, but Ellena Savage’s adeptness with form is what really makes this worth reading.’ -- John McGregor * The Week *‘The essays display a fiercely intelligent mind that blends the personal with polemic ... It is original, forthright, and will have you challenging your own views and assumptions.’ -- Melinda Woledge * Good Reading, starred review *‘That the self exists in narrative form lies at the centre of Blueberries, as Savage explores the sites of identity — trauma, gender, class, religion, the body — in clear, rhythmic prose … In the last few pages she expunges herself from the narrative, exposing the scaffolding of her project, and leaves us to ponder the untold: the self that is yet to be, “the she of what next: action”.’ * Times Literary Supplement *‘Blueberries is a sometimes playful, sometimes fierce collection that is, in its own zigzagging way, a coming-of-age story. In every piece, Savage has a biting interrogation of the world and herself … Savage is an excellent critic and a droll one.’ -- Catie McLeod * The Sydney Morning Herald *‘Never before has memoir read quite like this … a collection that challenges, tests and demands engagement from the reader … a journey of experimentation that is fuelled by her strong, independent voice throughout. In form and in content, Blueberries is exquisite.’ * Judges’ Report from the 2021 Stella Prize *‘Savage is skilled at imparting language to universal feelings that are difficult to articulate.’ * BOMB Mag *Praise for Yellow City: ‘In Yellow City, Ellena Savage’s mind translates the memory of violence into astonishingly brilliant language. She perfectly articulates the creeping feeling that one’s life is irreversible in a way that, prior to reading, I felt language may be incapable of capturing. This made me sure that she was either a genius, or a witch, or my dream coupling of the two.’ -- Rita Bullwinkel, author of Belly UpPraise for Yellow City: ‘Delving into troubling territory, Savage brings a fierce intellect, sharp wit, and a handful of uncomfortable truths. To read her is to be simultaneously thrilled and uneasy. Savage is a writer not to miss.’ -- Jessie Cole, author of StayingPraise for Yellow City: ‘And it’s so funny! So snide and clever and irreverent.’ -- Eloise Grills, author of Big Beautiful Female Theory

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Book Synopsis**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER**In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment.How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?The world-renowned historian and intellectual Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today's most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change.Faced with a litany of existential and real crises, are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?'[Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century' Bill Gates, New York Times'21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book' Adam Kay, author of UndoctoredTrade ReviewTruly mind-expanding… Ultra-topical… Harari’s big selling point [is] the ambition and breadth of his work, smashing together unexpected ideas into dazzling observations. * Guardian *There is surely no one alive who is better at explaining our world than Yuval Noah Harari - he is the lecturer we all wish we’d had at university. Reading this book, I must have interrupted my partner a hundred times to pass on fascinating things I’d just read. Harari has done it again - 21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book. -- Adam KayErudite, illuminating, vivid. [Harari’s] lessons suggest new ways of thinking about current problems… a splendid, sobering, stirring call to arms. * Sunday Times *Fascinating… compelling… [Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century. -- Bill Gates * New York Times *The great thinker of our age. * The Times *Harari… is a rare voice of calm reassurance, slicing through the chaos and uncertainty of the modern age. -- Allan Hunter * Sunday Express *Harari thrills his readers because he addresses the biggest possible topics with confidence and brio. Compared with the subjects he tackles, anything else we might read looks piffling and parochial. * Evening Standard *Harari’s genius at weaving together insights from different disciplines, ranging from ancient history to neuroscience to philosophy to artificial intelligence, has enabled him to respond to the clamour to understand where we have come from and where we might be heading… 21 Lessons is lit up by flashes of intellectual adventure and literary verve. * Financial Times *Modern life can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, Yuval Noah Harari's new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, is on hand to guide us through it. Poolside reading with purpose. * Elle *[Harari’s] purpose is to reveal the hard-learned lessons we have all already encountered this century… the persuasiveness of Harari’s philosophical analysis, and the engaging quality of his writing, is hard to deny. * Esquire *

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Book SynopsisA RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Full of delightful nuggets' Guardian online 'Entertaining, informative and philosphical ... An essential read' All About History 'Extraordinary range ... All the world and more is here' Evening Standard 165 million years ago saw the birth of rhythm. 66 million years ago came the first melody. 40 thousand years ago Homo sapiens created the first musical instrument. Today music fills our lives. How we have created, performed and listened to music throughout history has defined what our species is and how we understand who we are. Yet it is an overlooked part of our origin story. The Musical Human takes us on an exhilarating journey across the ages – from Bach to BTS and back – to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. With insights from a wealth of disciplines, world-leading musicologist Michael Spitzer renders a global history of music on the widest possible canvas, from global history to our everyday lives, from insects to apes, humans to artificial intelligence. 'Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music' Daniel Levitin 'A thrilling exploration of what music has meant and means to humankind' Ian Bostridge Trade ReviewEntertaining, informative and philosophical ... An essential read * All About History Magazine *Extraordinary range ... All the world and more is here -- Evening Standard * Julian Glover *An ambitious and total history of music -- Charlotte Runcie * Daily Telegraph *Full of delightful nuggets ... sends the reader back to a world of musical examples time and time again * Guardian *Extraordinary ... Ranging from the Geissenklösterle caves to K-Pop, from the lost music of the Aztecs to the role of song in hunter-gatherer societies, and drawing on a vast array of specialisations, from archaeoacoustics to ornithology, Spitzer utilises a breath-taking variety of sources ... The Musical Human will make you think differently about music, about its place in your life and about its importance to human life tout court -- Mathew Lyons * Literary Review *Bold, compelling and ear-opening -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman *A hugely ambitions work, but never daunting, and there's something thought-provoking on every page ... With scholarship, wit and passion, this book demonstrates that there is truly a soundtrack to human lives -- Catherine Bott, Classic FMA thrilling exploration of what music has meant and means to humankind -- Ian BostridgeMusic changed my life. It changes my mood, my thoughts, my feelings and changes the way I move. Now I know why. This book has connected me to not only the language of love but the language of life. If you can just hum, whistle out of tune or shake a leg at a wedding then open the pages of this book and know why! A revelation -- Michael CashmanBlurring the lines between musical theory, anthropology, biology and history, Spitzer posits that music is one of our most defining achievements, fundamental to the human experience -- Rhiannon Thomas * Radio Times *An amazing book, tying together research in archaeology, anthropology, music history, and human origins to form a compelling and exciting account of the many ways music has developed across the world and across time. Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music -- Daniel Levitin

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisWhat is it like to live next door to a British Army base? England''s military heartland provides an eye-opening account of the sprawling military presence on Salisbury Plain, drawing on a wide range of voices from both sides of the divide.Targeted for expansion under government plans to reorganise the UK?s global defence estate, the Salisbury ?super garrison? offers a unique opportunity to explore the impact of the military footprint in a particular place. But this is no ordinary environment: as well as being the world-famous site of Stonehenge, the grasslands of Salisbury Plain are home to rare plants and wildlife.How does the army take responsibility for conserving this unique landscape as it trains young men and women to use lethal weapons? Are its claims that its presence is a positive for the environment anything more than propaganda? This book investigates these questions against the backdrop of a historic landscape inscribed with the legacy of perpetual war.

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers a critical, cross-disciplinary, and international overview of emerging scholarship addressing the dynamic relationship between race and markets. Chapters are engaging and accessible, with timely and thought-provoking insights that different audiences can engage with and learn from. Each chapter provides a unique journey into a specific marketplace setting and its sociopolitical particularities including, among others, corner stores in the United States, whitening cream in Nigeria and India, video blogs in Great Britain, and hospitals in France. By providing a cohesive collection of cutting-edge work, Race in the Marketplace contributes to the creation of a robust stream of research that directly informs critical scholarship, business practices, activism, and public policy in promoting racial equity.Table of ContentsTable of Content Chapter 1: Introduction Co-Editors Section 1 - Space and Time Chapter 2: Making the mass white: how racial segregation shaped consumer segmentation Marcel Rosa-Salas Chapter 3: Race, markets, and digital technologies: historical and conceptual frameworks W. Trevor Jamerson Chapter 4: (Re)visiting the corner store: black youth, gentrification, and food sovereignty Naya Jones Chapter 5: Beyond whiteness: perspectives on the rise of the pan-asian beauty ideal. Jeaney Yip et al. Section 2– Racialization and Intersectionality Chapter 6: Shopping while veiled: an exploration of the experiences of veiled muslim consumers in france Ranam Alkayyli Chapter 7: Constructing and critiquing interracial couples on youtube Francesca Sobande Chapter 8: Marketing marriage and colorism in india Komal Dhillon-Jamerson Chapter 9: ‘Dirty braids’: how hair is disrupting dominant racial narratives in puerto rico post-hurricane maria Jess Vega-Centeno Section 3 – Voices and Modes of Understanding Chapter 10: Are black consumers a bellwether for the nation?: how research on blacks can foreground our understanding of race in the marketplace Cassi Pittman Claytor Chapter 11: A loan at last? Race and racism in mortgage lending Vanessa Gail Perry Chapter 12: Crowd-based markets: technical progress, civil and social regression Lauren Rhue Section 4 – Neoliberalism, Markets and Marketization Chapter 13: Cultural justice and collecting: challenging the underrecognition of african american artists Patricia A. Banks Chapter 14: The new economics of colorism in the skin whitening industry: case of india and nigeria Ramya M. Vijaya Chapter 15: Race as a currency? Profitability and racialization in french healthcare institutions Dorothée Prud’homme Chapter 16: Development by markets: an essay on the continuities of colonial development and racism in africa Samuel Kwaku Bonsu Chapter 17: Afterword Rokhaya Diallo (Journalist – France)

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Book SynopsisThe Gift brilliantly argues for the importance of creativity in our increasingly money-driven society. Reaching deep into literature, anthropology and psychology Lewis Hyde''s modern masterpiece has at its heart the simple and important idea that a ''gift'' can inspire and change our lives.Trade ReviewA masterpiece . . . THE GIFT is the best book I know of for the aspiring young, for talented but unacknowledged creators, or even for those who have achieved material success and are worried that this means they've sold out. It gets at the core of their dilemma: how to maintain yourself alive in a world of money, when the essential part of what you do cannot be bought or sold -- Margaret AtwoodReminds us of our cultural gifts and our responsibilities to them . . . a manifesto of sorts . . . In a climate where we know the price of everything and the value of nothing, Lewis Hyde offers us an account of those few, essential aspects of human experience that transcend commodity, or that will do so, if you let them -- Zadie SmithHelpful, beautiful and profound. It will change the way you look at everything * * Independent on Sunday * *Buy several copies for yourself and the rest of your friends interested in, well, anything . . . Hyde is far more than an astute cultural critic; he's an original and important thinker. Pass it on -- Geoff DyerFew books are such life-changers as THE GIFT -- Jonathan LethemTiger balm for tired minds * * Sunday Times * *No one who is invested in any kind of art, in questions of what real art does and doesn't have to do with money, spirituality, ego, love, ugliness, sales, politics, morality, marketing, and whatever you call 'value', can read THE GIFT and remain unchanged -- David Foster WallacePersuasive and fascinatingly illustrated, The Gift profits immensely from the modesty and unpretentiousness of Hyde's writing and the fascinated good nature with which he expounds his propositions * * Independent on Sunday * *Brilliant - by the time he is done he has folded language, culture and the very habit of being human into his ken * * New Yorker * *This wonderful, erudite and quirky book is a way of re-establishing a link with our imaginative life -- Jeanette Winterson

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Book SynopsisIn Dancing in the Streets Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture. She discovers that the same elements come up in every human culture throughout history: a love of masking, carnival, music-making and dance. Although sixteenth-century Europeans began to view mass festivities as foreign and 'savage', Ehrenreich shows that they were indigenous to the West, from the ancient Greek's worship of Dionysus to the medieval practices of Christianity as a 'danced religion'. Exhilarating in its scholarly range, humane, witty and impassioned, Dancing in the Streets will generate debate and soul-searching.Trade ReviewWitty and quizzical ... Her lightness of touch is commendable -- Simon Callow * Guardian *Dancing in the Streets is a genuine triumph of popular critical scholarship - the punchy elegance of her prose makes this an essential purchase * Independent *A sparkling history of mass festivity, from Dionysian cults through ecstatic slave rites to rock'n'roll, it also, in sober vein, records its suppression and containment by disquieted elites and concludes with meditations on some deep-seated troubles of our own age -- Gareth Dale * Times Higher Education Supplement *

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Book Synopsis''A landmark in social thought. Henrich may go down as the most influential social scientist of the first half of the twenty-first century'' MATTHEW SYEDDo you identify yourself by your profession or achievements, rather than your family network? Do you cultivate your unique attributes and goals? If so, perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. Unlike most who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, nonconformist, analytical and control-oriented. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically peculiar? What part did these differences play in our history, and what do they mean for our collective identity? Joseph Henrich, who developed the game-changing concept of WEIRD, uses leading-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics and evolutionary biology to explore how changing family structures, marriage practices and religious beliefs in the Middle Ages shaped the Western mind, laying the foundations for the world we know today. Brilliant, provocative, engaging and surprising, this landmark study will revolutionize your understanding of who - and how - we are now. ''Phenomenal ... The only theory I am aware of that attempts to explain broad patterns of human psychology on a global scale'' Washington Post''You will never look again in the same way at your own seemingly universal values'' Uta Frith, Professor of Cognitive Development, University College LondonTrade ReviewA masterpiece. Staggering in range, intricate in detail, thrilling in ambition, this book is a landmark in social thought. Henrich may go down as the most influential social scientist of the first half of the twenty-first century. -- Matthew Syed * bestselling author of 'Black Box Thinking' and 'Bounce' *Illuminates a journey into human nature that is more exciting, more complex and ultimately more consequential than has previously been suspected. * Nature *A massively ambitious work that explains the transition to the modern world ... Significantly contributes to our understanding -- Francis Fukuyama, author of The Origins of Political OrderEngagingly written, excellently organized and meticulously argued . . . This is an extraordinarily ambitious book, along the lines of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel ... We will all have to change our perspective. -- Daniel C. Dennett * New York Times *The most absorbing, provocative and compelling book I have read in a long time. Joseph Henrich's thrilling exposé of cultural variety and evolution is grounded in meticulous science, and his arguments go beyond the milestone of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. You will never look again in the same way at your own seemingly universal values. -- Uta Frith * Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development, University College London *Phenomenal ... The only theory I am aware of that attempts to explain broad patterns of human psychology on a global scale. -- Coren Apicella, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania * Washington Post *This anthropology-meets-big-data approach is not merely innovative, but underpins a fascinating and creative book, brimming with provocative ideas. * Financial Times *There's nothing so fascinating as a social anthropologist's analysis of his own tribe. Henrich shows how strange and exceptional Western society is when compared with most of the world -- John Barton, author of A History of the BibleHenrich has thought more deeply about cultural evolution than anybody alive. His fascinating insights into just how weird people like he and I are, with our western lifestyles, and what the implications of that are for better and for worse, are a great contribution to scholarship. -- Matt Ridley * author of 'How Innovation Works' *Propelled by a bold vision, this landmark study is required reading for anyone curious about the origins of modernity -- Walter Scheidel, author of The Great LevelerHenrich and his colleagues are shaking the foundations of psychology and economics - and hoping to change the way social scientists think about human behaviour and culture. * Pacific Standard *[A] sweeping and magisterial book, likely to become as foundational to cultural psychology as the WEIRD acronym [Henrich] and his colleagues coined a decade ago. -- Alex Mackiel * Quillette *Joseph Henrich's The WEIRDest People in the World . . . makes for stunning reading. (It is also written with such wit and humor, and luminous clarity.) Probably an understatement to say that it is one of the most important books of the year. -- Cass Sunstein * author of Nudge *One of the most interesting books I've read this year. -- James Marriot (via Twitter)A brilliant performance - accessible, playful and scholarly, turning conventional history on its head and approaching it in a new way. -- Simon Sebag-Montefiore * BBC History Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE, JULY 2020How proteins, machine learning and molecular chemistry can teach us about the complexities of human behaviour and the world around usHow do we understand the people around us? How do we recognise people''s motivations, their behaviour, or even their facial expressions? And, when do we learn the social cues that dictate human behaviour?Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of eight, Camilla Pang struggled to understand the world around her and the way people worked. Desperate for a solution, Camilla asked her mother if there was an instruction manual for humans that she could consult. But, without the blueprint to life she was hoping for, Camilla began to create her own. Now armed with a PhD in biochemistry, Camilla dismantles our obscure social customs and identifies what it really means to be human using her unique expertise and a language she knows best: science.Through a set of scientific principles, this book examines life''s everyday interactions including:- Decisions and the route we take to make them;- Conflict and how we can avoid it;- Relationships and how we establish them;- Etiquette and how we conform to it.Explaining Humans is an original and incisive exploration of human nature and the strangeness of social norms, written from the outside looking in. Camilla''s unique perspective of the world, in turn, tells us so much about ourselves - about who we are and why we do it - and is a fascinating guide on how to lead a more connected, happier life.Trade ReviewUnveiling hidden complexities of human behaviour, this book navigates a mind-bending topic with incisiveness and lucidity * David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, author of 'Tribes' *This vital memoir illuminates the power of being on the autism spectrum * The Times *This book is truly exceptional. Applying science to the problems of human relationships, the perils of perfectionism and the pitfalls of social etiquette, Millie has written a joyous, funny and hugely insightful text for all of us - whether neurotypical or neurodiverse. This 'Outsiders Guide to the Human Race' is warm, witty and a joy to read. * Gina Rippon, cognitive neuroscientist/autism researcher and author of 'The Gendered Brain' *Thoughtful, incisive and important: this is a must-read for an accessible education in human understanding. It blew my mind! * Laura Jane Williams, author of 'Our Stop' and 'Becoming: Second Sex, Second Chances, and Figuring Out Who the Hell I Am' *Whether neurodiverse or neurotypical, Pang's witty account is a must-read for anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of life beyond what society defines as the 'norm' * Dazed *Camilla's book is an accessible guide to scientific concepts that is humorous and engaging * BBC Science Focus *A scientific blueprint of human nature and all its bizarre social norms * Bustle *An easy-to-read part-memoir, part-explanation of why humans are the way they are and what we can learn from it * Refinery29 *

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Book SynopsisWith marriage in decline, divorce on the rise and the demise of the nuclear family, it is clear that the structures of kinship in the modern West are in a state of flux.In The Metamorphoses of Kinship, the world-renowned anthropologist Maurice Godelier contextualises these developments, surveying the accumulated experience of humanity with regard to such phenomena as the organisation of lines of descent, sexuality and sexual prohibitions. In parallel, Godelier studies the evolution of Western conjugal and familial traditions from their roots in the nineteenth century to the present. The conclusion he draws is that it is never the case that a man and a woman are sufficient on their own to raise a child, and nowhere are relations of kinship or the family the keystone of society.Trade ReviewThis is a blockbuster of a book. Nothing like it has been written since Levi-Strauss's Structures e?le?mentaires de la parente? (1949) or Meyer Fortes's Kinship and the Social Order (1969). Yet in the sweep of its evidence and argument, Godelier's summa is more ambitious and far-reaching than either of these. It is at once a major intervention in the discipline of anthropology, and a work of the widest human interest ... The book is both a monument of scholarship and a gripping set of reflections on universal experience. It is certain to be read and discussed for years to come. -- Jack Goody * New Left Review *Godelier has reasserted the value of our rich tradition of discussions of kinship matters. He has also shown how the category has metamorphosed as it has drawn in new issues of pressing current importance in modern life and made his case that, far from being genuinely in decline, the study of kinship is central to our understanding of what it means to be human. -- Robert H. Barnes * Comparative Studies in Society and History *A truly monumental work -- Wendy James, University of Oxford * Times Higher Education Supplement *

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Book SynopsisLévi-Strauss held that "the real, the symbolic and the imaginary" are three separate orders. Maurice Godelier demonstrates the contrary: the real is not separate from the symbolic and the imaginary. Godelier's book goes to the strategic heart of the social sciences, for to examine the nature and role of the imaginary and the symbolic is also to attempt to account for the basic components of all societies and ultimately of human existence. And these aspects in turn shape our social and personal identity.Trade ReviewAfter 'Marx,' 'Durkheim' and 'Weber,' after the first fifty years of ethnographic and historical exploration, after Lévi-Strauss and the next fifty years of ethnographic and historical research, what might the 'Frazer' of our times write? Maurice Godelier's gripping essay gives us an idea. Verging on a Jeremiad, drawing from predecessors near and far for a synthesis "in the grand style," The Imagined, the Imaginary and the Symbolic probes our current state of learning. In so doing it sets the conditions for posing new questions for the next generations struggling not only to know the others and the pasts but to create societies for the future. The grand synthesizer, Godelier has given us another gift for the times. -- Frederick H. Damon, Professor of Anthropology, University of Virginia

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Book SynopsisA TLS BEST BOOK OF 2023 'A formidable work' Nigel Barley, author of The Innocent Anthropologist 'Should be required reading' Richard Lambert, Financial Times 'A magnificent, moving survey' Felipe Fernández-Armesto, TLS This is a history of the ways in which foreign and prehistoric peoples were represented in museums of anthropology, with their displays of arts and artifacts, their dioramas, their special exhibitions, and their arrays of skulls and skeletons. Originally created as colonial enterprises, what is the purpose of these places today? What should they do with the items in their custodianship? And how can they help us to understand and appreciate other cultures? Informed by a lifetime of research and scholarship, this subtle and original work tackles painful questions about race, colonialism, difference, and cultural appropriation. The result is a must-read for anyone concerned with the coexistence of different modes of life.Trade ReviewA formidable work ... one whose want has been much felt -- Nigel Barley, former Assistant Keeper at the British Museum and author * The Innocent Anthropologist *A magnificent, moving survey ... Kuper's case is strong and his voice - erudite and elegiac - commands respect -- Felipe Fernández-Armesto * TLS *A provocative look at questions of ethnography, ownership and restitution ... should be required reading for the trustees of big museums everywhere -- Richard Lambert * FT *Material for thought ... Nothing beats reading this book, without bias but with a sort of peaceful objectivity, sometimes polemical -- Olivier Gabet, Director of the Department of Art at the LouvreThis is the must-read book for anyone interested in the history of ethnographic museums and how the urban public of Western industrial nations learned about the myriad "other people" living on our planet. Kuper applies his monumental knowledge of the history of anthropological scholarship to lay out his vision of how the ethnographic museums were born, thrived, and eventually moved to the margins of public imagination. Yet, as he rightly claims, big ethnographic museums face new beginnings in the 21st century ­- ones defined by creative exhibits, ethical stewardship, and modern education about lives and cultures of world's "other people" -- Igor Krupnik, Chair of Anthropology and Curator of Circumpolar Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian InstitutionAdam Kuper shows in his engaging new overview of the Western world's ethnology/antiquities/natural history museums that the issues of identity and ethics with which these key cultural institutions wrestle today have very deep roots indeed. His book is obligatory reading for anyone interested in the complexities of international repatriation, the boundaries of "art," and the role of museums in the modern world -- Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural HistoryA delight from the first to the last page [which] raises questions that could lead to ways out of the dilemmas ... The juxtapositions of the different positions, which Adam Kuper presents very pointedly, clarifies the arguments with a sharpness that I have rarely experienced. It will certainly provoke dissent, but that is what the discipline (especially in its museums branch) thrives on (or should thrive on) ... Wonderful -- Dr Anna Schmid, Director of the Museum of Cultures BaselA level-headed survey of the rise and fall of anthropological and ethnographic collections and what their futures may hold ... Kuper steers a pragmatic course through these perilous waters -- Keith Miller * Art Newspaper *A vibrant cultural history ... Kuper's deeply researched [and] vigorous examination of ethnography and anthropology museums ... brings an authoritative perspective * Kirkus Starred Review *Praise for Adam Kuper: 'Witty, entertaining, and compulsively readable -- David N. Gellner, University of OxfordWill enlighten any reader ... [Kuper] brings to life the personalities and clashes during a time that spawned outsize personalities, moments of brilliance, and several generations of students -- Stephen Gudeman, University of MinnesotaAn excellent, comprehensive tour through one of the most important and influential schools of anthropological theory * New Books Network *

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Book SynopsisFrom the creator of Your Fat Friend and co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast, an explosive indictment of the systemic and cultural bias facing plus-size people.Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people’s experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, “I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice.”By sharing her experienc

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Book SynopsisChina’s rise from the poverty, isolation and stagnation of the 1970s to the world’s second largest economy is a transformative event perhaps unequalled in human history. The world today pays more attention to China, looks to it with more admiration than perhaps any other time. Yet, this rise also hides many deep-rooted problems and competing ideologies. Economically, socially and politically China has transformed itself but there is much that remains uncertain. This book aims to give an insight into China by exploring everyday life for her citizens, in their own voices. Providing both an overview of the political situation and context in China with ethnographic insights, The Politics of Everyday China aims to give both the new student of China and those who have encountered the subject before an insight that goes beyond the usual cliché and surface description.Table of ContentsIntroduction1 ‘It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches the mouse’: the role of ideology in Communist China2 The road to revival3 People and place in the civilisation State4 Harmony and the self: rights and responsibilities5 To get rich is gloriousConclusion

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Book SynopsisThe Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall is where the land ends. In The Swordfish and the Star Gavin Knight takes us into this huddle of grey roofs at the edge of the sea at the beginning of the twenty-first century. He catches the stories of a whole community, but especially those still working this last frontier: the Cornish fishermen. These are the dreamers and fighters who every day prepare for battle with the vast grey Atlantic. Cornwall and its seas are brought to life, mixing drinking and drugs and sea spray, moonlit beaches and shattering storms, myth and urban myth. The result is an arresting tapestry of a place we thought we knew; the precarious reality of life in Cornwall today emerges from behind our idyllic holiday snaps and picture postcards. Even the quaint fishermen’s pubs on the quay at Newlyn, including the Swordfish and its neighbour the Star, turn out to be places where squalls can blow up, and down again, in an instant. Based on immersive research and rich with the voices of a cast of remarkable characters, this is an eye-opening, dramatic, poignant account of life on Britain’s most dangerous stretch of coast.Praise for Hood Rat 'A gripping novelistic immersion' Louis Theroux'A must-read' Owen Jones'Britain's Gomorrah' IndependentTrade ReviewAn alternative perspective, telling the stories of the fishermen who work on this treacherous stretch of coast, tales gathered over two years of interviews, many conducted in the Swordfish and Star of the title -- Tom Robbins * Financial Times Books of the Year *A terrific new book about a hard and dangerous way of life * Esquire, Book of the Year *Knight has gone in search of old smells and danger and found them in spades. There are extraordinarily evocative stories here, of the mad bravado of scarred, de-fingered fishermen and the stoicism of their women... As a cross-section of west Cornish lives, a celebration of brave eccentricity and a prose illustration of the way those lives overlap and interrelate, The Swordfish and the Star takes some beating -- Patrick Gale * Guardian *Knight recounts fascinating detail, but also shows a novelist's skill in painting a vivid picture of real Cornwall and real Cornish people: Shane Meadows meets The Perfect Storm * Esquire *[Knight] is as adept with words as his hero Nutty Noah the Cadgwith ring-netter is with a shoal of pilchards ... exhilarating -- Tom Fort * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisYuval Noah Harari’s bestselling phenomenon now in a beautifully packaged new special edition. Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us. We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens? In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going. Sapiens is a thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history – from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age – and our journey from insignificant apes to rulers of the world. 'Unbelievably good. Jaw dropping from the first word to the last' Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2PATTERNS OF LIFE: SPECIAL EDITIONS OF GROUNDBREAKING SCIENCE BOOKSTrade ReviewSapiens is packed with heretical thinking and surprising facts. This riveting, myth-busting book cannot be summarised in any detail; you will simply have to read it -- John Gray * Financial Times *Here is a simple reason why Sapiens has risen explosively to the ranks of an international best-seller. It tackles the biggest questions of history and of the modern world, and it is written in unforgettably vivid language. You will love it! -- Jared DiamondWhat’s unique about Harari’s take is that he focuses on the power of stories and myths to bring people together... I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a fun, engaging look at early human history... Harari tells our history in such an approachable way that you’ll have a hard time putting it down -- Bill GatesWhat makes it so interesting and provocative is that because it’s such a condensed sweeping history it talks about some core things that have allowed us to build this extraordinary civilisation that we take for granted, but weren’t a given, and it gives you a sense of perspective in how briefly we’ve been on this Earth -- Barack Obama * CNN *Sapiens is the sort of book that sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain. Its author, Yuval Noah Harari, is a young Israeli academic and an intellectual acrobat whose logical leaps have you gasping with admiration...Harari's writing radiates power and clarity, making the world strange and new -- John Carey * The Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis'The next Bill Bryson' New York TimesTwo tigers cannot share the same mountain - Chinese proverbDespite geographical proximity, cultural similarities, and shared status as highly powerful nations, China, Korea and Japan love to hate each other. Why?In search of an answer, Michael Booth journeys across East Asia to explore the mutual animosity that frequently threatens to draw the world into all-out war. From misjudged cake decorations to electoral meddling, contradictory origin myths to territorial disputes, this deeply researched and hugely entertaining book shows that no conflict is too small to keep the fires of neighbourly hostility burning.'A fine summary of East Asian cultures and conflicts...useful, fact-packed and readable' SpectatorTrade ReviewIn this enjoyable and information-packed travelogue…[Booth] is a terrific observer… his chatty style disarms his subjects and entertains the reader. It is a hard act to pull off when dealing with tragedy. His deft, accurate summaries of the contentious history in each place work well. -- Michael Sheridan * Sunday Times *Three Tigers, One Mountain is a fine summary of East Asian cultures and conflicts, with a chummy, affable tone and profound interest in its subject… useful, fact-packed and readable. -- Mike Cormack * Spectator *In this entertaining travel book…[Booth] becomes our genial host on a tour of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China… It’s a credit to Booth’s skill as a writer that he keeps us both entertained and informed in every chapter. -- Jasper Becker * Literary Review *[Booth is] an engaging travel companion. Not only is he serious about his reportage, but he is also a fine descriptive writer… the journey [in Three Tigers, One Mountain] is well worth the ticket. -- Christian Tyler * Oldie *Four years after Booth exploded the myth of the Scandi utopia, he enhances his reputation for getting to the truth of societal attitudes with this exploration of why, despite sharing much, the giants of East Asia - China, Japan and Korea - just don't get on. * i *

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Book SynopsisSince its emergence in Italy in 1968, one model of football fandom has become the most dominant in the world: the ultras. Producing choreography, chants, banners and pyrotechnics, ultras represent a highly organised style of fandom that has an increasing global reach and visibility. Over the last fifty years, ultras fandom has spread from Southern Europe across North Africa to Northern and Eastern Europe, South East Asia and North America. Their collective performance not only distinguishes ultras from other football fans, but from many other forms of group behaviour. Focusing on their common form of expression, this book shows how members build an emotional attachment to their club that valorises the insignia of that team while mobilising members against opponents. As a collective with a shared, coherent sense of identity based on an act of consumption, ultras represent an important site of enquiry into masculinity and nationalism in contemporary society.Trade Review'Ultras The passion and performance of contemporary football fandom by Mark Doidge, Radoslaw Kossakowski & Svenja Mintert sheds light on the very complex subculture of ultras, which makes it a highly welcome addition to the existing sociological studies on ultras and football fandom. 'idrotts forum -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 The ultras' performance2 It’s only a game? Centralising emotions in football fandom 3 The formation of the ultras 4 Social media as a space of continuous performance5 Ultras and the performance of gender 6 Violence and the world of the ultras7 Ultras and politicsThe ultras: a conclusionReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisWhy do we give a damn about strangers? Altruism is unique to the human species. It is also one of the great evolutionary puzzles, and we may be on the brink of solving it. It turns out that, over the last 12,000 years, we have become more and more altruistic. This is despite the fact that, the majority of the time, our minds are still breathtakingly indifferent to the welfare of others. In solving the enigma of generosity in a world of strangers, McCullough takes us on a sweeping history of society and science to warn that, if we are not careful, our instincts and sympathies have as much potential for harm as for good. The bad news is that we are not designed to be kind. The good news is that we can push ourselves to be kind anyway, together.Trade Review‘Exploring the journey from our xenophobic ancestors to the science and technology aiding our psychology today, this book is an intriguing read for anyone interested in our social evolution and the paths that defined us.’ * How it Works *‘An inspiring and engrossing new look at human goodness. Without sentimentality or glibness, and wearing his depth and erudition lightly, McCullough enlightens us on when and why we care for others.’ -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and the author of Enlightenment Now‘A deliciously provocative analysis of an entirely admirable human quality.’ * Kirkus (starred review) *'Enlightened by evocative anecdotes and well-explained theory, The Kindness of Strangers is as original as it is persuasive.' -- Richard Wrangham, Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and author of The Goodness Paradox'This fascinating and wide-ranging book presents a new theory of why we are kind to strangers. Michael E. McCullough argues that the standard answers are mistaken—our kindness is not the product of a special evolved system, nor is it a biological accident. Rather, while it is based on part on evolved social instincts, it mostly arises through the exercise of our capacity for reason. This is a controversial position, but McCullough’s arguments are smart, clear, and ultimately persuasive.' -- Paul Bloom, Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology, Yale University, and author of Against Empathy: The case for rational compassion

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Book Synopsis'A powerful celebration of common humanity and compassion . . . deserves to be read widely by people of all faiths and none' - Sunday TimesIn a series of personal and insightful letters to his sons, Omar Saif Ghobash offers a vital manifesto that tackles the dilemmas facing not only young Muslims but everyone navigating the complexities of today’s world.Full of wisdom and thoughtful reflections on faith, culture and society. This is a courageous and essential book that celebrates individuality whilst recognising it is our shared humanity that brings us together.Written with the experience of a diplomat and the personal responsibility of a father; Ghobash’s letters offer understanding and balance in a world that rarely offers any. An intimate and hopeful glimpse into a sphere many are unfamiliar with; it provides an understanding of the everyday struggles Muslims face around the globe.Trade ReviewA powerful celebration of common humanity and compassion . . . deserves to be read widely by people of all faiths and none. * Sunday Times *Full of brave questions and wisdom -- Ed Husain, author of The IslamistAn act of bravery -- Niall FergusonCreates hope * New York Times *A gentle, cautious work, which addresses thorny questions with a parent's compassion and a diplomat's delicate tread. * Harper's *Ghobash encourages a search for nuance in a world consumed with a polarizing, partisan us-versus-them mentality. * Slate *Thoughtful reflections by a Muslim diplomat about questions of faith, culture, and modernity. -- Fawaz A. Gerges, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political ScienceA timely and incisive book about the hopes and aspirations of Muslims beyond the headlines that have shaped Western attitudes towards Islam . . . A must read for Muslims and non-Muslims -- Vali Nasr, Dean and Professor of International Politics at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International StudiesBeautifully written letters . . . A must read for anyone who wants to take the pulse of a crucial region of our world. Refreshing and effortless reading, filled with hope. -- Ebrahim Moosa, is professor of Islamic Studies and co-director of the Contending Modernities program in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre DameA rare treat in that it is intensely human whilst, at the same time, being an important work of philosophy, religion and life. -- Henry Sweetbaum, Chairman of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence

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Book Synopsis'It's a little book of wonder, it's fantastic' Chris Evans 'A fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring' Sunday Times Friends do it, strangers do it and so do chimpanzees - and it's not just deeply embedded in our history and culture, it may even be written in our DNA. The humble handshake, it turns out, has a rich and surprising history. So let's join palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi as she embarks on a funny and fascinating voyage of discovery - from the handshake's origins (at least seven million years ago) all the way to its sudden disappearance in March 2020. Drawing on new research, anthropological insights and first-hand experience, she'll reveal how this most friendly of gestures has played a role in everything from meetings with uncontacted tribes to political assassinations - and what it tells us about the enduring power of human contact. Because the story of the handshake ... is far from over.Trade ReviewAl-Shamahi's beguiling book has a more general claim to attention than merely being an account of the crisis in manners that Covid has made ... cheerful, witty and well-researched. -- Stephen Bayley * Spectator *Witty and wide-ranging -- PD Smith * Guardian *It's a little book of wonder, it's fantastic -- Chris EvansA fabulously sparky, wide-ranging and horizon-broadening little study ... joyously unboring * Sunday Times *Having not particularly missed shaking hands over the past year, I ended this very engaging little book so desperate to get started again that I'm in danger of becoming a super-spreader. * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisIn his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic and often treacherous journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles.'Thubron on top form. Richly detailed, immaculately written and full of insights and encounters that bring a complex corner of the world to life' MICHAEL PALINRising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific, the Amur River forms the tense border between Russia and China. This is the most densely fortified frontier on Earth.Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, Thubron makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.'A masterpiece' William Dalrymple'Unforgettable' Antony Beevor'An epic journey along a frozen, fraught frontier... Fascinating' The Times'This book is a triumph' Daily TelegraphWinner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award 2022Trade ReviewA miraculous late-style masterpiece, the equal of any of [Thubron's] earlier works, which will cement his reputation as one of our greatest prose writers in any genre... The Amur River is not just a literary triumph in itself, it is also a demonstration of the continued power of great travel writing -- William Dalrymple * Daily Telegraph *A fascinating read packed with curiosities and incident * The Times *Thubron's journey makes for a gripping read...with fascinating political insight * Sunday Times *Excellent... Thubron's observations are perceptive and lightly delivered * Literary Review *[Thubron] summons both landscape and people with nuanced sensitivity... Here is a writer at the top of his game, one from whom those toiling on the lower slopes have much to learn * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisA polemic as finely concentrated as a line of pure cocaine - Los Angeles Review of Books

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Book SynopsisSince the 1960s, the West has moved ever-leftwards. ''Equality'' and feelings' are central to the New Religion that rejects all traditional values. Yet beneath the institutionally dominant Left' stews a growing and restless Right'. How has this fractured situation come about? What will the future hold?In The Past is a Future Country, the authors trace it back to the Industrial Revolution. Darwinian selection massively weakened, meaning that, for the first time in history, the selfish, sick and stupid could survive and reproduce, undermining our religious, group-oriented culture. Now the West is scourged by an epidemic of narcissists, competing to signal their individuality and moral superiority. But their fight for equality' is really a fight for self-promotion. Reflecting this runaway individualism, Westerners increasingly don't have children, save for those who are genetically resistant to this onslaught the staunchly conservative and religious: the eventual inheritors of the earth.But there is a dark storm brewing in the demographic data that the authors have analysed. There is a burgeoning growth in the population of exceptionally unintelligent and antisocial people that social welfare systems cannot sustain for much longer. The developed world will pass away, and the global population that depends on it will crash, in the greatest Malthusian Collapse of all time. Yet all is not lost. The authors show how a resistant class of intelligent, religious conservatives will band together to preserve enclaves of civilization that may survive most of the coming apocalypse, and from its ashes rebuild a new world: A Neo-Byzantium.

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Book SynopsisWhat is the secret to humanity's evolutionary success? Could it be our strength, our intellector something much nicer?Trade Review‘Brilliant, eye-opening, and absolutely inspiring – and a riveting read. Hare and Woods have written the perfect book for our time.’ -- Cass Sunstein, author of How Change Happens and co-author of Nudge‘An utterly persuasive explanation for why the human psyche has evolved to be dangerous – and what to do about it. It should be read by every politician and every school-child.’ -- Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution‘Very few books even attempt to do what this book succeeds in doing. It begins in basic behavioural science, proceeds to an analysis of cooperation (or lack thereof) in contemporary society, and ends with implications for public policy. Everyone should read this book.’ -- Michael Tomasello, author of Origins of Human Communication and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University‘Please read this beautiful, riveting, and uplifting book. You will learn the astonishing story of how and why humans evolved a deep impulse to help total strangers but also sometimes act with unspeakable cruelty. Just as importantly, you’ll learn how these insights can help all of us become more compassionate and more cooperative.’ -- Daniel E. Lieberman, author of The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease and Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding‘Survival of the Friendliest is a fascinating counterpoint to the popular [mis]conception of Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest.’ Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods offer a convincing case that it was not brute strength, raw intelligence, or ruthlessness that allowed modern humans to thrive while our hominin relatives died out. Instead, they argue that friendliness was the key to our flourishing – and that the same kind of cooperative communication is the key to freeing us from the tribalism currently threatening democratic governance around the world. Powerful, insightful, accessible – this book gives me hope.’ -- Megan Phelps-Roper, author of Unfollow‘How can a top predator like the wolf have evolved to become “man’s best friend”? Finally a book that explains in the clearest terms how friendliness and cooperation shaped dogs and humans. This book left me with a happy and optimistic view of nature.’ -- Isabella Rossellini, actress and activist

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE CAROL R. EMBER BOOK PRIZE FOR SCIENTIFIC ANTHROPOLGY SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE From fire walking to funerals, the hidden science of the rituals that give life meaning Ritual is perhaps the oldest, and certainly the most enigmatic, thread in human culture. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society: from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples. And yet, though rituals exist in every culture and can persist nearly unchanged for centuries, their logic has remained a mystery until now. Today, a fearless new generation of anthropologists is venturing into this shadowy realm. Armed with cutting-edge technology and drawing on discoveries from a huge range of disciplines, they emerge with a powerful new perspective on our place in the world. Join the pathfinding scientist Dimitris Xygalatas on a tour of human culture at its strangest. In coronations, in silent prayer, in fire-walks and in all the bewildering variety of humanity's ritual life, Xygalatas reveals the deep and subtle mechanisms that bind us together.Trade ReviewA fascinating well researched book about a fascinating subject. You will learn a lot -- Dr Jane Goodall, DBEA gripping guide to rites and customs around the world ... this engrossing account begs a sequel * New Scientist *Fascinating ... pacy, adventurous * Mail on Sunday *An elegantly simple and deeply persuasive argument which generalises to other forms of delusional belief. -- Professor Mark Solms, author * The Hidden Spring *The great mystery of human behavior is ritual. How do we explain circumcisions, debutante balls, hazing, royal coronations, and fire-walking? Dimitris Xygalatas is a brilliant polymath and this fascinating book explores this question through a mix of scientific research, evolutionary theorizing, and deep immersion into cultures with gruesome and painful rituals. An important intellectual contribution and a true delight to read -- Paul Bloom, author * The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning *Xygalatas' account of how our tendency to conduct weird routines can make us feel better individually or as part of a group is a thoroughly satisfying scientific detective story. His evidence may be culled from around the world but the lessons apply to all of us. -- Richard Wrangham, author * Catching Fire, The Goodness Paradox *From the firewalking ceremonies of Greece to the terrifying rites of Amazonia, the anthropologist-cum-psychologist Dimitris Xygalatas leads readers on a whitewater tour of the new science of rituals, exploring and explaining how and why all human societies engage in seemingly senseless, repetitive and obscure customs that integrate rhythm, dance, music, pain and sacrifice. Rich in ethnographic detail, personal narratives and psychological experiments, Ritual tells us how we can use this new science, and the wisdom embedded in ancient traditions, to elevate our lives, improve our health and strengthen our communities -- Joe Henrich, Professor and Chair of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, and author * The WEIRDest People in the World *One of the best studies of ritual in years. In elegant, clean prose, Xygalatas draws on traditional ethnography and contemporary social science to show that rituals play a central role in the way we define who we are and in the health of our bodies. The book is a superb introduction both to classic anthropological theory and the modern science that extends its insights. Xygalatas shows that humans are indeed the ritual species -- Tanya Marie Luhrmann, author * How God Becomes Real *Why do people walk on hot coals, scarify themselves, pierce their bodies with sharp objects, fast, kneel, handle poisonous snakes, endure hours of boring sermons on their days off? Like the question of how dosing ourselves with alcohol, a low-grade neurotoxin, has persisted and endured so long as a practice among human cultures, the prevalence of pragmatically useless and yet often costly and painful rituals across human cultures is a mystery hiding in plain sight. Armed with new tools, such as biometric sensors and hormone sampling, Xygalatas reveals the inner workings and crucial functions of ritual, which explain both its antiquity and ubiquity ... An entertaining and engaging introduction to the cognitive science of ritual by one of the pioneers of the field -- Edward Slingerland, author * Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization *We are ritual beings; we surround ourselves with rituals - at birth, death and everywhere in between. But why do rituals matter to us when they so often bring so few obvious benefits? In this striking, wonderfully written, and original new book, Dimitris Xygalatas unravels the mystery of how rituals - from the mundane to the bizarrely violent - can be the source of transformative power -- Michael Patrick Lynch, author * The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data *With a knack for showing how 'strange' behaviours are closer to home than we realize, Xygalatas masterfully explains how what binds us to other human beings are our most mysterious activities - rituals. Actions with no clear purpose are often, ironically, the most meaningful things we do. -- Jesse Bering, Professor of Science Communication at the University of Otago and author * Suicidal *Ritual is a deep, engaging, magnificent book. Full of vivid stories about the myriad ritual behaviors of human beings - from the prayers made to countless gods to kissing dice at craps to wearing feathered gloves full of biting ants to walking barefoot on hot coals - it shows how humans turn ordinary life into something awe-inspiring, how we use shared rituals to transcend our solitary selves. Xygalatas walks through fire himself, literally and intellectually, to share great wisdom about the human condition. * Nicholas A. Christakis, author of Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society *

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Book Synopsis'A characteristically radical re-reading of history that places the social and political experiments of pirates at the heart of the European Enlightenment. A brilliant companion volume to the best-selling Dawn of Everything' Amitav GhoshThe Enlightenment did not begin in Europe. Its true origins lie thousands of miles away on the island of Madagascar, in the late seventeenth century, when it was home to several thousand pirates. This was the Golden Age of Piracy - but it was also, argues anthropologist David Graeber, a brief window of radical democracy, as the pirate settlers attempted to apply the egalitarian principles of their ships to a new society on land.In this jewel of a book, Graeber offers a way to 'decolonize the Enlightenment', demonstrating how this mixed community experimented with an alternative vision of human freedom, far from that being formulated in the salons and coffee houses of Europe. Its actors were Malagasy women, philosopher kings and escaped slaves, exploring ideas that were ultimately to be put into practice by Western revolutionary regimes a century later.Pirate Enlightenment playfully dismantles the central myths of the Enlightenment. In their place comes a story about the magic, sea battles, purloined princesses, manhunts, make-believe kingdoms, fraudulent ambassadors, spies, jewel thieves, poisoners and devil worship that lie at the origins of modern freedom.Trade ReviewChatty, punky, anti-everything catnip... it is good fun. It's about pirates, after all. * Sunday Times *Engaging ... the chief pleasure of Graeber's writing is not that one always agrees with his arguments about the past. It is rather that, through a series of provocative thought experiments, he repeatedly forces us to reconsider our own ways of living in the present. Whatever happened in 18th-century Madagascar, Pirate Enlightenment implies, we could surely all do with a bit more free-thinking and egalitarianism in our own social, sexual and political arrangements. -- Fara Dabhoiwala * The Guardian *Open and imaginative... Graeber is writing in a hybrid genre of poetic history, in this sense, but he is also reminding us why such hybridisation is good for us. * New Statesman *A characteristically radical re-reading of history that places the social and political experiments of pirates at the heart of the European Enlightenment. A brilliant companion volume to the best-selling Dawn of Everything. -- Amitav GhoshFeisty, heroic ... a highly original thinker and a wonderful writer. -- Peter Frankopan * New York Times *A genius... blazingly original, stunningly wide-ranging, impossibly well read. * The Atlantic *A thinker who revolutionises the way we see the world and helps us reimagine the things we once took for granted. * New Statesman *PRAISE FOR THE DAWN OF EVERYTHING: Iconoclastic and irreverent ... an exhilarating read. -- David Priestland * The Guardian *Pacey and potentially revolutionary ... This is more than an argument about the past, it is about the human condition in the present. -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *Blazing with iconoclastic rebuttals to conventional wisdom. Full of fresh thinking, it's a pleasure to read and offers a bracing challenge on every page. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * BBC History *This is not a book. This is an intellectual feast. -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Book SynopsisWith a specially commissioned preface by the author which assesses the continuing significance of the work, this Routledge Classics edition will ensure that Purity and Danger continues to challenge, question and inspire for many years to come.Trade Review"Professor Douglas writes gracefully, lucidly and polemically. She continually makes points which illuminate matters in the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of science and help to show the rest of us just why and how anthropology has become a fundamentally intellectual discipline." - New Society "Professor Douglas' book sparkles with intellectual life and is characterised by a concern to understand. Right or wrong, sound or idiosyncratic, it presents a rare and exciting spectacle of a mind at work." - Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsIntroduction; Chapter 1 Ritual Uncleanness; Chapter 2 Secular Defilement; Chapter 3 The Abominations of Leviticus; Chapter 4 Magic and Miracle; Chapter 5 Primitive Worlds; Chapter 6 Powers and Dangers; Chapter 7 External Boundaries; Chapter 8 Internal Lines; Chapter 9 The System at War with Itself; Chapter 10 The System Shattered and Renewed;

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