Reaktion Books: 753 books
by Andrés Mario Zervigón
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2017
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2017
The idea of photography in Germany evokes everything from the pioneering modernist pictures of the Weimar era to the colossal digital prints that define art photography today. But it also recalls horrifying documents of wartime atrocities and the relentless surveillance of East German citizens. Photography...
Figs
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: September 15, 2014
Lusciously sweet and with a complex texture, figs are both a nutritious culinary delicacy and an important symbol in religion and culture. Associated with Christmas since the time of Charles Dickens—not to mention Dionysus or the Garden of Eden—the fig is steeped in history. In this account of...
St George
A Saint for All
Language: English
Release Date: April 15, 2015
The image of St. George—atop his horse, lance plunged halfway into a dragon’s body—is so familiar to us that we take for granted what a long history it has had. As Samantha Riches demonstrates in this book, St. George is easily one of the most transported icons across cultures, and his history...
Comets
Nature and Culture
Language: English
Release Date: October 15, 2017
Radiating fire and ice, comets as a phenomenon seem part science, part myth. Two thousand years ago when a comet shot across the night sky, it convinced the Romans that Julius Caesar was a god. In 1066, Halley’s Comet was interpreted as a foreshadowing of the death of Harold the Second in the Battle...
Moon
Nature and Culture
Language: English
Release Date: June 15, 2014
Long before a rocket hit the Man in the Moon in the eye in Georges Méliès’s early film Le Voyage dans la Lune, the earth’s lone satellite had entranced humans. We have worshipped it as a deity, believed it to cause madness, used it as a means of organizing time, and we now know that it manipulates...
Duchamp
Love and Death, even
Language: English
Release Date: June 1, 2013
Marcel Duchamp's stature in the history of art has grown steadily since the 1950s, as several artistic movements have embraced him as their founding father. But although his influence is comparable only to Picasso's, Duchamp continues to be relatively unknown outside his narrow circle of followers....
Activism!
Direct Action, Hacktivism and the Future of Society
Language: English
Release Date: August 2, 2004
Many schools of thought assert that Western culture has never been more politically apathetic. Tim Jordan's Activism! refutes this claim. In his powerful polemic, Jordan shows how acts of civil disobedience have come to dominate the political landscape. Because we inhabit such a quickly changing,...
Salad
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: November 15, 2016
Light, healthy, and easily tossed together, salads have been an herbaceous staple for as long as we have eaten food. Sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet—ladled over with buttermilk dressings or gently dressed in oil and vinegar—they come in an astonishing variety of forms and feature as both side...
Dessert
A Tale of Happy Endings
Language: English
Release Date: August 15, 2018
Let’s face it: roast beef and potatoes are all well and good, but for many of us, when it comes to gustatory delight, we’re all about dessert. Whether it’s a homemade strawberry shortcake in summer or a chef’s complex medley of sweets, dessert is the perfect finale to a meal. Most of us have...
Olive
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: March 15, 2012
Olives are at once a mythical food—bringing to mind scenes from ancient Rome and the Bible—and an everyday food, given the ubiquity of olive oil in contemporary diets. In this succinct and engaging history, Fabrizia Lanza traces the olive’s roots from antiquity, when olive oil was exalted for...
Wood, Whiskey and Wine
A History of Barrels
Language: English
Release Date: September 15, 2014
Barrels—we rarely acknowledge their importance, but without them we would be missing out on some of the world’s finest beverages—most notably whiskies and wines—and of course for over two thousand years they’ve been used to store, transport, and age an incredibly diverse array of provisions...
by Rachel Poliquin
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2015
With unique fish-like tails, chainsaw teeth, a pungent musk, and astonishing building skills, beavers are unlike any other creature in the world. Not surprisingly, the extraordinary beaver has played a fascinating role in human history and has inspired a rich cultural tradition for millennia. In...
Sex and Religion
Teachings and Taboos in the History of World Faiths
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2012
Sex and religion are inevitably and intricately linked. There are few realms of human experience other than sex in which religion has greater reach and influence. The role of religion, of any faith, to prohibit, regulate, condemn, and reward, is unavoidably prominent in questions of sex—namely...
Angels in Mourning
Sublime Madness, Ennui and Melancholy in Modern Thought
Language: English
Release Date: August 15, 2018
Sublime madness, ennui, and melancholy: a condition of imbalance, chaotic and desolate—and a keystone of modern Western thought. Why did this threatening expression of languor and disorder gain such traction at the heart of a European culture supposedly guided by the light of rationalism? In Angels...