Search results for ""Reaktion Books""
Reaktion Books The Ruling Families of Rus: Clan, Family and Kingdom
This is a new history of the region known as Kyivan Rus', a state in eastern and northern Europe from the late ninth to the mid-sixteenth century that encompassed a variety of polities and peoples, including Lithuanian, Polish, Ottoman and others. This account for the first time focuses on the history of the region via families, which allows the discussion of a wider region and a larger group of people than has been possible before. The book examines the development of Rus, Lithuania, Muscovy and Tver, and their relations and interconnections with the Mongols, Byzantines and many other peoples. This readable yet thoroughly scholarly book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of eastern Europe, a region that is crucial in world politics today.
£22.50
Reaktion Books Lamestains: Grunge, Sub Pop and the Music of the Loser
This book is a critical history of Sub Pop, the Seattle independent rock label that launched the careers of countless influential 'grunge' bands in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It focuses in particular on the languages and personas of the 'loser', a term that encompassed the label's founders and personnel, its flagship bands (including Mudhoney, TAD and Nirvana) and the avid vinyl-collecting fans it rapidly amassed. The 'loser' became (and remains) the key Sub Pop identity, but it also grounded the label in the overt masculinity, sexism and transgression of rock history. Rather than the usual reading of grunge as an alternative to the mainstream, Lamestains reveals a more equivocal and complicated relationship that Sub Pop exploited with great success.
£15.99
Reaktion Books Breakfast Cereal: A Global History
Simple, healthy and comforting, breakfast cereals are a perennially popular way to start the day around the world. They have a long, distinguished and surprising history – around 10,000 years ago, with the advent of agriculture, people began breaking their fast with porridges made from wheat, rice, corn and other grains. It was only in the second half of the nineteenth century, however, in the United States, that a series of entrepreneurs and food reformers created the breakfast cereals we recognize today: Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Cheerios and Quaker Oats, among others. In this global, entertaining and well-illustrated account, Kathryn Cornell Dolan explores the history of breakfast cereals, including many historical and modern recipes that the reader can try at home.
£12.99
Reaktion Books Thomas Nashe and Late Elizabethan Writing
A critical biography of one of the most celebrated prose stylists in early modern English.This book provides an overview of the life and work of the scandalous Renaissance writer Thomas Nashe (1567–c.1600), whose writings led to the closure of theaters and widespread book bans. Famous for his scurrilous novel, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594), Nashe also played a central role in early English theater, collaborating with Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare. Through religious controversies, pornographic poetry, and the bubonic plague, Andrew Hadfield traces the uproarious history of this celebrated English writer. 'Thomas Nashe was a bright, fierce light in Elizabethan literature, whose work was banned by the church authorities. From secretly circulated pornography to the herrings of East Anglia, and from Puritan propaganda to the first English novel, Nashe is always productive and provocative. Andrew Hadfield’s lucid new life opens up these funny, savage, deeply topical works for a new readership, emphasizing their range, verve, and specificity. Hadfield’s skill is in contextualizing without overshadowing the literary brio of the writing, and in recovering the Nashe whom all his contemporaries — including Shakespeare — wanted to emulate.' — Emma Smith, Hertford College, Oxford (UK)
£17.95
Reaktion Books Dinner in Rome: A History of the World in One Meal
‘There is more history in a bowl of pasta than in the Colosseum’, writes Andreas Viestad in Dinner in Rome. From the table of a classic Roman restaurant, Viestad takes us on a fascinating culinary exploration of The Eternal City, and global civilization. Food, he argues, is history’s secret driving force. Viestad finds deeper meanings in his meal: From the bread that begins the dinner he traces the origins of wheat and its role in Rome’s rise as well as its downfall. From his fried artichoke antipasto he explains olive oil’s part in the religious conflict of 16th-century Europe. From his sorbet dessert he recounts how lemons featured in the history of the Mafia in the 19th century, and how the hunger for sugar fuelled the slave trade. Viestad’s dinner may be local, but his story is universal. His ‘culinary archaeology’ is an entertaining, flavourful journey across the dinner table and time. You’ll never look at spaghetti carbonara the same way again.
£20.00
Reaktion Books Merchants of Style: Art and Fashion After Warhol
Merchants of Style explores the accelerating convergence of art and fashion, looking at the interplay of artists and designers - and the role of institutions, both public and commercial - that has brought about this marriage of aesthetic industries. Natasha Degen argues that one figure more than any other anticipated this moment: Andy Warhol. Beginning with an overview of art and fashion's deeply entwined histories before picking up where Warhol left off, Merchants of Style tells the story of art's emboldened forays into commerce and fashion's growing embrace of art. As the two industries draw closer together than ever before, this book addresses urgent questions about what the future holds.
£20.00
Reaktion Books A Short History of Tomb-Raiding: The Epic Hunt for Egypt's Treasures
To secure a comfortable afterlife, ancient Egyptians built fortress-like tombs and filled them with precious goods, a practice that generated staggering quantities of artefacts over the course of many millennia, but one which has also drawn thieves and tomb-raiders to Egypt since antiquity. Drawing on modern scholarship, reportage and period sources, this book tracks the history of treasure-seekers in Egypt and the social contexts in which they operated, revealing striking continuities throughout time. Readers will recognize the foibles of today’s politicians and con artists, the perils of materialism, and the cycles of public compliance and dissent in the face of injustice. In describing an age-old pursuit and its timeless motivations, A Short History of Tomb-Raiding shows how much we have in common with our Bronze Age ancestors.
£22.50
Reaktion Books Uranus and Neptune
The most distant planets in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune were unknown by the ancients – Uranus was discovered in the 1780s and Neptune only in the 1840s. Our discovery and observation of both planets has been hampered by their sheer distance from Earth: there has only been one close encounter, Voyager 2 in the late 1980s. The Voyager mission revealed many enticing details about the planets and their moons, but also left many more questions unanswered. This book is an informative and accessible introduction to Uranus, Neptune and their moons. It takes the reader on a journey from discovery to the most recent observations made from space- and ground-based telescopes, and will appeal to amateur and professional astronomers alike.
£22.50
Reaktion Books Cod: A Global History
This is the first culinary history of a truly remarkable fish. Elisabeth Townsend follows cod around the globe, showing how its pursuit began with the Vikings, and exploring its influence on human affairs ever since. The book looks at the different ways cod has been caught, cooked and eaten, often by the descendants of explorers, enslaved people and traders. Cod examines the fish in the myths and legends of the North Atlantic, the West Indies, South America, West and Southeast Africa, and across the Indian Ocean to the Far East. It is a fascinating journey through cod fact and lore, and features delectable historical and contemporary recipes that showcase the myriad ways it can be consumed.
£12.99
Reaktion Books Sub Culture: The Many Lives of the Submarine
Sub Culture explores the crucial role of the submarine in modern history, its contribution to scientific progress and maritime exploration, and how it has been portrayed in art, literature, fantasy and film. Ranging from the American Civil War to the destruction of the Kursk, the book examines the submarine’s activities in the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War, and in covert operations and marine exploration to the present day. Citing the submarine, particularly the nuclear submarine, as both ultimate deterrent and doomsday weapon, Sub Culture examines how its portrayal in popular culture has reinforced, and occasionally undermined, the military and political agendas of the nation states that deploy it.
£20.00
Reaktion Books Amber: From Antiquity to Eternity
Amber: From Antiquity to Eternity is a history of human engagement with amber across three millennia. The book vividly describes our conceptions, stories, and political and scholarly disputes about amber, as well as issues of national and personal identity, religion, art, literature, music and science. Rachel King rewrites amber's history for the twenty-first century, tackling thorny ethical and moral questions regarding humanity's relationship with amber in the past, as well our connection with it today. With Earth facing unprecedented challenges, amber - the natural time capsule, and preserver of key information about the planet's evolutional history - promises to offer invaluable insights into what comes next.
£31.50
Reaktion Books Egypt: Lost Civilizations
Often characterized as a 'lost' civilization that was 'discovered' by adventurers and archaeologists, ancient Egypt has fascin ated and inspired many other cultures. Classical Greek and Roman writers admired ancient Egyptian philosophy; in the eighteenth century, secret societies like the Freemasons still upheld the wisdom of ancient Egypt. But why? Christina Riggs introduces the history, art and religion of Egypt from its earliest dynasties to its final fall to Rome - and explores the influence ancient Egypt has had through the centuries. Today, ancient Egypt is ubiquitous in museums, television documentaries and tattoo parlours - wherever people look for a past as ancient and impressive as they come. Looking for a vanished past, Riggs argues, always serves some purpose in the present.
£12.95
Reaktion Books House Plants
Our penchant for keeping house plants is an ancient practice dating back to the Pharaohs. House Plants explores the stories behind the plants we bring home and how they were transformed from wild plants into members of our households. A billion-dollar global industry, house plants provide an interaction with nature, and contribute to our health, happiness and wellbeing. They also support their own miniature ecosystems and are part of the home biome. Featuring many superb illustrations, House Plants explores both their botanical history and cultural impact, from song (Gracie Fields’s Biggest Aspidistra in the World), literature (Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying) and cinema (Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors) to fashion, technology, contemporary design, and painting.
£18.00
Reaktion Books Dressing Up: A History of Fancy Dress in Britain
Pierrot, Little Bo Peep, cowboy: these characters and many more form part of this colourful story of dressing up, from the accession of Queen Victoria to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Fancy dress became a regular part of people’s social lives over this period, and the craze for it spread across Britain and the Empire, reaching every level of society. Spectacular and witty costumes appeared at street carnivals, victory celebrations, fire festivals and extravagant balls. From the Victorian middle classes performing ‘living statues’ to squads of Shetland men donning traditional fancy dress and setting fire to a Viking ship at the annual Up Helly Aa celebration, this lavishly illustrated book provides a unique view into the quirky, wonderful world of fancy dress.
£22.50
Reaktion Books Doping: A Sporting History: 2022
Why is doping a perennial problem for sport? Is this solely a contemporary phenomenon? And should doping always be regarded as cheating, or do today’s anti-doping measures go too far? Drawing on case studies from the early twentieth century to the present day, Doping: A Sporting History explores why the current anti-doping system looks as it does, charting its origins to the founding of the modern Olympic Games. From inter-war notions of sporting purity to the post-war stimulant crisis, what seemed an easily resolvable problem soon became an impossible challenge as the pharmacology improved, the policy system stuttered, and Cold War politics allowed doping to flourish. The late twentieth century saw the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency, but has the intensity of these global measures led to unintended harms? From the cyclist Tommy Simpson who died in 1967 on Mont Ventoux with amphetamines in his jersey to Team Russia’s expulsion from the 2018 Winter Olympics, Doping: A Sporting History is a gripping, provocative account that ultimately proposes a new approach: one for the inclusion and protection of athletes.
£20.00
Reaktion Books Ballroom: A People’s History of Dancing
In the early twentieth century, American ragtime and the Parisian tango fuelled a dancing craze in Britain. Public ballrooms were built throughout the country, providing a glamorous setting for dancing. The new English style, defined in the 1920s and followed by the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the ’30s, ensured that ballroom dancing continued to be the most popular British pastime until the 1960s, rivalled only by the cinema. This book explores the vibrant history of ballroom and Latin dancing: the dances, lavish venues, competitions and influential instructors. It also traces the decline of couple dancing and its resurgence in recent years with the hugely popular TV shows Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars.
£20.00
Reaktion Books Soda and Fizzy Drinks: A Global History
More than 80 years before the invention of Coca-Cola, sweet carbonated drinks became popular around the world, provoking remarkably similar arguments that they do today. Are they medicinally, morally, culturally or nutritionally good or bad? They have been loved – and hated – for being cold or sweet or fizzy or stimulating. Many of their flavours are international – lemon and ginger were more popular than cola until about 1920. Some are local: tarragon in Russia, cucumber in New York, red bean in Japan, and chinotto (exceedingly bitter orange) in Italy. This book looks at how something made from water, sugar and soda became big business but also became deeply important to people; fizzy drinks’ symbolic meanings are far more complex than the water, gas and sugar from which they are made.
£12.99
Reaktion Books The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages
An illuminating exploration of the surprisingly familiar sex lives of ordinary medieval people. The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much-or too little-sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that virginity was the ideal state. Holy men and women committed themselves to lifelong abstinence in the name of religion. Everyone was forced to conform to restrictive rules about who they could have sex with, in what way, how often, and even when, and could be harshly punished for getting it wrong. Other experiences are more familiar. Like us, medieval people faced challenges in finding a suitable partner or trying to get pregnant (or trying not to). They also struggled with many of the same social issues, such as whether prostitution should be legalized. Above all, they shared our fondness for dirty jokes and erotic images. By exploring their sex lives, the book brings ordinary medieval people to life, revealing details of their most personal thoughts and experiences. Ultimately, it provides us with an important and intimate connection to the past.
£20.00
Reaktion Books Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the present
It began with The Beatles’ ‘Helter Skelter’. It was distilled to its dark essence by Black Sabbath. And it has flourished into a vibrant modern underground, epitomized by Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. This is the evolution of heavy music, and Electric Wizards is your sonic gazetteer. The voyage is as varied as it is illuminating: from the lysergic blunt trauma of Blue Cheer to the locked grooves of Funkadelic, the aural frightmares of Faust to the tectonic crush of Sleep, alighting on post-punk, industrial, grunge, stoner rock and numerous other genres along the way. Ranging from household names to obscure cult heroes and heroines, Electric Wizards demonstrates how each successive phase of heavy music was forged by what came before, outlining a rich and eclectic lineage that extends far beyond the usual boundaries of heavy rock or heavy metal. It extols those who did things differently, who introduced something fresh and exciting into this elemental tradition, whether by design, accident or sheer chance. In doing so, Electric Wizards weaves an entirely new tapestry of heavy music.
£22.50
Reaktion Books Games People Played: A Global History of Sport
Games People Played is, surprisingly, the first global history of sport. The book shows how sport has been practiced, experienced and made meaningful by players and fans throughout history. It assesses how sports developed and diffused across the globe, as well as many other aspects, from emotion, discrimination and conviviality; politics, nationalism and protest; and how economics has turned sport into a huge consumer industry. It shows how sport is sociable and health-giving, and also contributes to charity, however it also examines its dark side: its impact on the environment, the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and match fixing. Published during Summer Olympic year, covering everything from football to baseball, boxing to motor racing, this book will appeal to anyone who plays, watches and enjoys sport, and wants to know more of its history and global impact.
£22.50
Reaktion Books The Greatest Adventure: A History of Human Space Exploration
The space race was perhaps the greatest technological contest of the 20th century. It was a thrilling era of innovation, discovery and exploration, as astronauts and cosmonauts were launched on space missions of increasing length, complexity and danger. The Greatest Adventure traces the events of this extraordinary period, describing the initial string of Soviet achievements: the first satellite in orbit; the first animal, man and woman in space; the first spacewalk; as well as the ultimate US victory in the race to land on the moon. The book then takes the reader on a journey through the following decades of space exploration to the present time, detailing the many successes, tragedies, risks and rewards of space exploration.
£22.50
Reaktion Books Crime Dot Com: From Viruses to Vote Rigging, How Hacking Went Global
On 4 May 2000, an email that read ‘kindly check the attached LOVELETTER’ was sent from Philippines. Attached was a virus, the Love Bug, and within days it had paralysed banks, broadcasters and businesses across the globe. The age of Crime Dot Com had begun. Geoff White charts the astonishing development of hacking, from its birth among the ruins of the Eastern Bloc to its coming of age as the most pervasive threat to our connected world. He takes us inside the workings of real-life cybercrimes, revealing how the tactics of high-tech crooks are now being harnessed by nation states. From Ashley Madison to election rigging, Crime Dot Com is a thrilling account of hacking, past and present, and of what the future might hold.
£12.99
Reaktion Books Charles Darwin
In 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. In this bedrock of biology books Darwin carved a new origin-story for all life: evolution rather than creation. In his new biography J. David Archibald describes and analyses Darwin’s prodigious body of work, as well as his equally productive home life – he lived with his wife and seven children in the hectic environs of Down House, south of London. There among his family and friends Darwin continued to experiment and write many more books on orchids, sex, emotions, and earthworms until his death in 1882, when he was honoured with burial at Westminster Abbey. This is a fresh, up-to-date account of the life and work of a most remarkable man.
£12.99
Reaktion Books Raccoon
Masked bandits of the night, raiders of farm crops and rubbish bins, raccoons are notorious for their indifference to human property and propriety, yet they are also admired for their intelligence, dexterity and determination. Raccoons have also thoroughly adapted to human-dominated environments; they are thriving in numbers greater than at any point of their evolutionary history... including in new habitats. Raccoon surveys the natural and cultural history of this opportunistic omnivore, tracing its biological evolution, social significance, and image in a range of media and political contexts. From intergalactic misanthropes and despoilers of ancient temples to coveted hunting quarry, unpredictable pet, and symbols of wilderness and racial stereotype alike, Raccoon offers a lively consideration of this misunderstood outlaw species.
£13.95
Reaktion Books The Poet and the Publisher: The Case of Alexander Pope, Esq., of Twickenham versus Edmund Curll, Bookseller in Grub Street
The quarrel between the poet Alexander Pope and the publisher Edmund Curll has long been a notorious episode in the history of the book, when two remarkable figures with a gift for comedy and an immoderate dislike of each other clashed publicly and without restraint. However, it has never, until now, been chronicled in full. Ripe with the sights and smells of Hanoverian London, The Poet and Publisher details their vitriolic exchanges, drawing on previously unearthed pamphlets, newspaper articles and advertisements, court and government records, and personal letters. The story of their battles in and out of print includes a poisoning, the pillory, numerous instances of fraud, and a landmark case in the history of copyright. The book is a forensic account of events both momentous and farcical, and it is indecently entertaining.
£22.50
Reaktion Books Twins: Superstitions and Marvels, Fantasies and Experiments
Human twins have many meanings and different histories. They have been seen as gods and monsters, signs of danger, death and sexual deviance. They are taken as objects of wonder and violent repression, the subjects of scientific experiment. Now millions are born through fertility technologies. Their history is often buried in philosophies and medical theories, religious and scientific practices, and countless stories of devotion and tragedy. In this history of superstitions and marvels, fantasies and experiments William Viney – himself a twin – shows how the use and abuse of twins has helped to shape the world in which we live. This book has been written for twins and for anyone interested in their historical, global and political impact.
£22.50
Reaktion Books The Sumerians: Lost Civilizations
The Sumerians are widely believed to have created the world’s earliest civilization on the fertile floodplains of southern Iraq from about 3500 to 2000 BC. They have been credited with the invention of nothing less than cities, writing and the wheel, and therefore hold an ancient mirror to our own urban, literate world. But is this picture correct? Paul Collins reveals how the idea of a Sumerian people was assembled from the archaeological and textual evidence uncovered in Iraq and Syria over the last 150 years. Reconstructed through the biases of those who unearthed them, the Sumerians were never simply lost and found, but reinvented a number of times, both in antiquity and in the more recent past.
£18.00
Reaktion Books The Indus: Lost Civilizations
The Indus civilization flourished for half a millennium from about 2600 to 1900 BC, when it mysteriously declined and vanished from view. It remained invisible for almost four thousand years, until its ruins were discovered in the 1920s by British and Indian archaeologists. Today, after almost a century of excavation, it is regarded as the beginning of Indian civilization and possibly the origin of Hinduism. The Indus: Lost Civilizations is an accessible introduction to every significant aspect of an extraordinary and tantalizing ‘lost’ civilization, which combined artistic excellence, technological sophistication and economic vigour with social egalitarianism, political freedom and religious moderation. The book also discusses the vital legacy of the Indus civilization in India and Pakistan today.
£11.53
Reaktion Books Crab
What is a crab? What significance do crabs play in the world? In Crab, Cynthia Chris discovers that these charming creatures are social by nature, creative problem-solvers, and invaluable members of the environments in which they live. Their formidable physical forms, their hard-to-harvest and quick-to-spoil flesh, and their sassy demeanour have inspired artists and writers from Vincent van Gogh to Jean-Paul Sartre. Cynthia Chris sketches vivid portraits of these animals, tracing the history of the crab through its ancient fossil record to its essential role in protecting its own habitats from the threat of climate change.
£13.95
Reaktion Books Asteroids
Grounded in historical studies of asteroids from the nineteenth century, Asteroids is a fully up to date view of these remarkable objects. Without resorting to any technical plots or mathematics, the author shows that asteroids are not just rocks in space, but key to understanding the life and death on Earth of both animals and humans. From space missions to the asteroids’ starring role in literature and film, Clifford J. Cunningham precisely and entertainingly looks at the place asteroids have in our solar system and how they affect our daily lives.
£22.50
Reaktion Books History of Writing
From the earliest scratches on stone and bone to the languages of computers and the internet, A History of Writing offers an investigation into the origin and development of writing throughout the world. Illustrated with numerous examples, this book offers a global overview in a format that everyone can follow. Steven Roger Fischer also reveals his own discoveries made since the early 1980s, making it a useful reference for students and specialists as well as a delightful read for lovers of the written word everywhere.
£15.18
Reaktion Books The Wig: A Harebrained History
Whether in a court room or a dressing room, wigs come in many forms and represent many things: from power, to sexuality, to parody, to health, to self-identity, to disguise. Wigs are present at parties and in chemotherapy rooms, in pop music and contemporary art. In this witty and eloquent book, Luigi Amara reflects on the curious history of the wig and along the way takes a sideways look at Western civilization. Amara illuminates how the wig has starred throughout history, from ancient Egypt to the court of Louis XIV, and from British courtrooms to drag shows today. Containing many striking and unusual images, The Wig will appeal to all those interested in the history of fashion--as well as philosophy, art, culture, and aesthetics.
£18.00
Reaktion Books Savoir-Faire: A History of Food in France
Savoir-Faire: A History of Food in France is a comprehensive account of France's rich culinary history. Not just the story of haute cuisine, the book is seasoned with myths and stories from a wide variety of times and places; from snail hunting in Burgundy to beermakers in Paris, who gave us leavened bread, and from cheese appreciation in Roman Gaul to bread debates in the Middle Ages. French cuisine has always featured bread, wine and cheese, but Savoir-Faire shows that it also includes chestnuts, couscous and oysters. The book examines French food in literature and film, the influence of France's overseas territories on the shape of French cuisine today, and includes historical recipes that the reader can make at home.
£24.75
Reaktion Books Agents of War: A History of Chemical and Biological Weapons
Often described as the misuse of science, chemical and biological weapons have incurred widespread opposition over the years. Despite condemnation from the United Nations, governments, and the disarmament lobby, they remain very real options for rogue states and terrorists. In this new edition of Agents of War, Edward M. Spiers has expanded and updated this much-needed history with two new chapters on political poisoning and chemical weapons in the Middle East. Spiers breaks new ground by presenting his analysis in both historical and contemporary contexts, giving a comprehensive chronological account of why, where, and when such weapons were used or suspected to be deployed.
£12.82
Reaktion Books A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk
'Ours is music with built-in hatred.' Pete Townshend A Band with Built-In Hate pictures The Who through the prism of pop art and the levelling of high and low culture it brought about. Peter Stanfield guides us through the British pop revolution as it was embodied by the band: first, under the mentorship of arch-mod Peter Meaden; and then with Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, two aspiring filmmakers, at the very centre of things in Soho. Guided by contemporary commentators - most conspicuously, Nik Cohn - Stanfield tells of a band driven by fury, and of what happened when they moved from explosive 45s to expansive concept albums. Above all, he describes how The Who confronted their lost youth as it was echoed in punk."
£22.50
Reaktion Books The Kinks: Songs of the Semi-detached
Of all the great British bands to emerge from the 1960s, none had a stronger sense of place than the Kinks. Often described as the archetypal English band, they were above all a quintessentially working-class band with a deep attachment to London. Mark Doyle examines the relationship between the Kinks and their city, from their early songs of teenage rebellion to their album-length works of social criticism. He finds fascinating and sometimes surprising connections with figures as diverse as Edmund Burke, John Clare and Charles Dickens. More than just a book about the Kinks, this is a book about a social class undergoing a series of profound changes, and about a group of young men who found a way to describe, lament and occasionally even celebrate those changes through song.
£10.99
Reaktion Books Live Wires: A History of Electronic Music
We live in an electronic world. Electronic sounds and electronic music have long permeated our sonic landscape. What began as the otherworldly sounds of the film score for the 1956 film Forbidden Planet and the rarefied, new timbres of Stockhausen’s Kontakte a few years later, is now a common soundscape in technology, media and an array of musical genres and subgenres. More people than ever before can produce and listen to electronic music, from isolated experimenters, classical and jazz musicians, to rock musicians, sound recordists and the newer generations of electronic musicians making hip-hop, house, techno and ambient music. Increasingly we are listening to electronic sounds, finding new meanings in them, experimenting with them and rehearing them as listeners and makers. Live Wires explores how the five key electronic technologies – the tape recorder, circuit, computer, microphone and turntable – revolutionized musical thought. Featuring the work of major figures from Schaeffer, Varèse, Xenakis, Babbitt and Oliveros to Eno, Keith Emerson, Grandmaster Flash, Juan Atkins and Holly Herndon, Live Wires presents many of the powerful musical ideas that are being recycled, rethought and remixed by some of the most electrifying composers and musicians today.
£12.95
Reaktion Books Donatello and the Dawn of Renaissance Art
The Italian sculptor known as Donatello helped to forge a new kind of art - one that defines the Renaissance. His work was progressive, innovative, challenging and even controversial. Using a variety of novel sculptural techniques and perspectives, Donatello depicted human sexuality, violence, spirituality and beauty. But to really understand Donatello one needs to understand a changing world, a transition from Medieval to Renaissance and to an art more personal and part of the modern self. Donatello was not just a man of his times, he helped create the spirit of the times he lived in, and those to come. In this beautifully illustrated book, the first monograph on Donatello for 25 years, A. Victor Coonin describes the full extent of Donatello's revolutionary contribution and shows how his work heralded the emergence of modern art.
£17.95
Reaktion Books Tomato: A Global History
In the history of food, the tomato is a relative newcomer outside its ancestral home in Mesoamerica. And yet, as we devour pizza by the slice, dip French fries in ketchup, delight in a beautiful Bolognese sauce, or savor tomato curries, it would now be impossible to imagine the food cultures of many nations without the tomato. The journey taken by the tomato from its ancestral home in the southern Americas to Europe and back is a riveting story full of culinary discovery, innovation, drama, and dispute. Today, the tomato is at the forefront of scientific advances in cultivation and the study of taste, as well as a popular subject of heritage conservation (heirloom tomato salad, anyone?). But the tomato has also faced challenges every step of the way into our gardens and kitchens--including that eternal question: is it a fruit or a vegetable? In this book, Clarissa Hyman charts the eventful history of this ubiquitous everyday edible that is so often taken for granted. Hyman discusses tomato soup and ketchup, heritage tomatoes, tomato varieties, breeding and genetics, nutrition, tomatoes in Italy, tomatoes in art, and tomatoes for the future. Featuring delicious modern and historical recipes, such as the infamous "man-winning tomato salad" once featured in Good Housekeeping, this is a juicy and informative history of one of our most beloved foods.
£12.99
Reaktion Books Bee
Claire Preston's Bee tells the busy story of our long, complex relationship with this industrious, much-admired insect. Moving from ancient political descriptions to Renaissance debates about monarchy, to the conversion of the virtuous and civil bee into the dangerous swarm of the Hollywood horror flick, and finally to the melancholy recognition that the modern decline of the bee is due to our use of harmful pesticides and destruction of the bee's habitat, this timely new edition could not arrive at a moment of greater buzz. Lively, engaging, and containing many fascinating bee facts, anecdotes, fables, and images, Bee is a sweeping, highly illustrated natural and cultural history of this familiar visitor to our gardens and parks. From beekeepers to anyone with an interest in bees' intricate, miniature societies, to all of us who enjoy honey on our toast, the appeal of Preston's exploration of how bees have woven themselves into the fabric of our culture is as expansive as the range and importance of these tiny workaholics themselves.
£11.99
Reaktion Books Blue Mythologies: Reflections on a Colour
The sea, the sky, the veins of your hands, the earth when photographed from space--blue sometimes seems to overwhelm all the other shades of our world in its all-encompassing presence. The blues of Blue Mythologies include those present in the world's religions, eggs, science, slavery, gender, sex, art, the literary past, and contemporary film. Carol Mavor's engaging and elegiac readings in this beautifully illustrated book take the reader from the blue of a newborn baby's eyes to Giotto's frescoes at Padua, and from the films of Derek Jarman and Krzysztof Ki slowski to the islands of Venice and Aran. In each example Mavor unpicks meaning both above and below the surface of culture. In an echo of Roland Barthes's essays in Mythologies, blue is unleashed as our most familiar and most paradoxical color. At once historical, sociological, literary, and visual, Blue Mythologies gives us a fresh and contemplative look into the traditions, tales, and connotations of those somethings blue.
£18.00
Reaktion Books Arnold Schoenberg
The most radical and divisive composer of the twentieth century, Arnold Schoenberg remains a hero to many, and a villain to many others. In this refreshingly balanced biography, Mark Berry tells the story of Schoenberg's remarkable life and work, situating his tale within the wider symphony of nineteenth- and twentieth-century history. Born in the Jewish quarter of his beloved Vienna, Schoenberg left Austria for his early career in Berlin as a leading light of Weimar culture, before being forced to flee in the dead of night from Hitler's Third Reich. He found himself in the United States, settling in Los Angeles, where he would inspire composers from George Gershwin to John Cage. Introducing all of Schoenberg's major musical works, from his very first compositions, such as the String Quartet in D Major, to his invention of the twelve-tone method, Berry explores how Schoenberg's revolutionary approach to musical composition incorporated Wagnerian late Romanticism and the brave new worlds of atonality and serialism. Essential reading for anyone interested in the music and history of the twentieth century, this book makes clear Schoenberg changed the history of music forever.
£12.99
Reaktion Books Cosmos: The Art and Science of the Universe
Since time immemorial, the nocturnal skies have mesmerized people, and heavenly bodies have inspired the imaginations of artists, poets, and scientists. This book showcases the superstars of the firmament and universe in sumptuous illustrations featuring paintings, sculpture, drawings, watercolours, prints, as well as plates from books, celestial diagrams, and astronomical photography. Cosmos: The Art and Science of the Universe charts the human love affair with the heavens in art and astronomy, based on sound science and insightful art and cultural history. While its illustrations are thrilling and seductive, the book also recounts the fascinating story about the quest to discover the mysteries of the universe in ten lively chapters. Embellished with new information, interpretations, and amusing anecdotes, the authors weave a rich tapestry about the interconnections in the cosmos and the efforts to understand them. A stunning book that unveils the beauty of the cosmos and its compelling story.
£36.00
Reaktion Books Ukraine: A Nation on the Borderland
The Euromaidan uprising in Kiev, followed by radical regime change, the annexation of the Crimea and the war in Eastern Ukraine, have shattered European security. The Western response to Russian aggression has been uncertain and hesitant in handling the unfamiliar yet large nation of Ukraine, a country with a complicated past, and one whose history is little known in the rest of Europe. In Ukraine: A Nation on the Borderland, Karl Schloegel presents a picture of a country which lies on Europe's borderland and in Russia's shadow. In recent years, Ukraine has been faced, along with Western Europe, with the political conundrum resulting from Russia's actions and the ongoing Information War. As well as exploring this present-day confrontation, Schloegel provides detailed, fascinating historical portraits of a panoply of Ukraine's major cities: Lviv, Odessa, Czernowitz, Kiev, Kharkov, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Yalta - cities whose often troubled and war-torn histories are as varied as the nationalities and cultures which have made them what they are today, survivors with very particular identities and aspirations. Schloegel feels the pulse of life in these cities, analysing their more recent pasts and their challenges for the future.
£27.00
Reaktion Books Ugliness: A Cultural History
In this riveting book Gretchen E. Henderson explores perceptions of ugliness through history, from ancient Roman feasts to medieval grotesque gargoyles, from Mary Shelley's monster cobbled from corpses to the Nazi Exhibition of Degenerate Art. Covering literature, art, music and even Uglydolls, Henderson reveals how ugliness has long posed a challenge to aesthetics and taste. Following ugly bodies and dismantling ugly senses across periods and continents, Ugliness: A Cultural History draws on a wealth of fields to cross cultures and times, delineating the changing map of ugliness as it charges the public imagination. Now available in paperback, this book is illustrated with a range of artefacts and offers a refreshing perspective that moves beyond the surface to ask what `ugly' truly is, even as its meaning continues to shift.
£11.99
Reaktion Books Zebra
Common and exotic, glamorous and ferocious, sociable and sullen: zebras mean many things to many people. The extraordinary beauty of their striped coats makes them one of the world's most recognizable animals. They have been immortalized in paint by artists including George Stubbs and Lucian Freud, and zebra-print designs permeate contemporary society - on beanbags and bikinis, car seats and pencil cases. Zebras even have a road crossing named after them. But the natural and cultural history of the zebra remains a mystery to most. Few know that there are three species of zebra, or that one of these is currently endangered, or that the quagga, an animal that once roamed southern Africa in large numbers before dying out in the 1880s, is among the zebra's many subspecies. Zebra is a comprehensive and wide-ranging study of the natural and cultural history of this popular animal. Using a wide range of sources and stories, it shows how the zebra's history engages and intersects with diverse topics, including eighteenth-century humour, imperialism and camouflage technologies. Including more than a hundred illustrations, many previously unpublished, it offers a new way of thinking about this much-loved but frequently misunderstood animal.
£13.95
Reaktion Books A History of Language
It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what language is. Steven Roger Fischer charts the history of language from the times of Homo erectus, Neanderthal humans and Homo sapiens through to the nineteenth century, when the science of linguistics was developed, as he analyses the emergence of language as a science and its development as a written form. He considers the rise of pidgin, creole, jargon and slang, as well as the effects radio and television, propaganda, advertising and the media are having on language today. Originally published in 1999, this new format edition, which includes a new preface by the author, also shows how digital media will continue to reshape and re-invent the ways in which we communicate.
£12.78
Reaktion Books War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict
This sumptuously illustrated volume, edited by eminent war historian Joanna Bourke, offers a comprehensive visual, cultural and historical account of the ways in which armed conflict has been represented in art. Covering the last two centuries, the book shows how the artistic portrayal of war has changed, from a celebration of heroic exploits to a more modern, truthful depiction of warfare and its consequences. Featuring illustrations by artists including Paul Nash, Judy Chicago, Pablo Picasso, Melanie Friend, Francis Bacon, Kathe Kollwitz, Yves Klein, Robert Rauschenberg, Dora Meeson, Otto Dix and many others, as well as those who are often overlooked, such as children, women, non-European artists and prisoners of war, this extensive survey is a fitting and timely contribution to the understanding, memory and commemoration of war, and will appeal to a wide audience interested in warfare, art, history or politics. Introduction by Joanna Bourke, with essays by Jon Bird, Monica Bohm-Duchen, Joanna Bourke, Grace Brockington, James Chapman, Michael Corris, Patrick Crogan, Jo Fox, Paul Gough, Gary Haines, Clare Makepeace, Sue Malvern, Sergiusz Michalski, Manon Pignot, Anna Pilkington, Nicholas J. Saunders, John Schofield, John D. Szostak, Sarah Wilson and Jay Winter.
£45.00