Books published by Reaktion Books

In Coffee: A Global History, Jonathan Morris explains how the world acquired a taste for coffee, yet why coffee tastes so different throughout the world. Written in an engaging style, and featuring wonderful recipes, stories and facts, the book explores who drank coffee, as well as why and where, how it was prepared and what it tasted like.

A new interpretation of Tycho Brahe's pivotal role in the emergence of empirical science.

An introduction to the lives and works of the most influential economists of modern times.

The most exciting book on Vikings for a generation, Laughing Shall I Die presents them for what they were: not peaceful explorers and traders, but bloodthirsty warriors and marauders.

The rich history of the intoxicating and evocative spice, vanilla.

This sumptuously illustrated book tells the remarkable story of the mulberry tree.

A new book from Reaktion best-selling author and artist, David Batchelor, The Luminous and the Grey is a unique study of the places where colour comes into being and where it fades away.

In this best-selling book David Batchelor analyzes the motivations behind the widespread fear of colour within Western culture, considering the work of writers and philosophers who have used colour as a significant motif, and offering new interpretations of familiar texts and works of art. 'a hugely entertaining guide to our ongoing obsession with white' - Time Out

A rogues' gallery of the worst leaders in military history.

An beautifully illustrated account of the sea and its meanings, from ancient myths to contemporary geopolitics.

A superbly illustrated overview of our long relationship with our feathered friends.

A selective yet wide-ranging anthology of concrete poetry edited by curator Nancy Perloff, which redefines what the concrete poetry movement means today.

A vibrant account of both the sensuous cultural scene of postwar Paris and the life of an alluring icon of modern art. Isidore Isou was a young Jew in wartime Bucharest who barely survived the Romanian Holocaust. He made his way to Paris, where, in 1945, he founded the avant-garde movement Lettrism, described as the missing link between Dada, Surrealism, Situationism, and May '68. In Speaking East, Andrew Hussey presents a colorful picture of the postwar Left Bank, where Lettrist fists flew in avantgarde punch-ups in Jazz clubs and cafés, and where Isou--as sexy and as charismatic as the young Elvis--gathered around him a group of hooligan disciples who argued, drank, and had sex with the Parisian intellectual élite. This is a vibrant account of the life and times of a pivotal figure in the history of modern art.

A humane, thoughtful and yet clear-eyed history of people with learning disabilities since 1700.

A compelling guide to prediction, a subject that is vital to modern existence.

A fresh and exciting reappraisal of folklore outlaw Robin Hood.

Through lively anecdotes, colourful pictures and delicious recipes, Jeff Miller explores the meteoric rise of the avocado.

A new cultural and natural history of the flashing, iridescent kingfisher.

Dogs in Art presents humanity's best friend like never before.

Part memoir, part manifesto, this is a celebration of the bicycle by French anthropologist Marc Auge.

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.

Vast Expanses is a cultural, environmental and geopolitical history that examines the relationship between humans and oceans, reaching back across geological and evolutionary time and exploring different cultures around the globe.

Tracing poles and polarity back to their sacred ancient civilizations, this book explores how the idea of a North Pole has given rise to utopias, satires, fantasies, paradoxes and nationalist ideologies, from the Renaissance to the Third Reich.

Drawing on the author's deep knowledge of the history and ecology of trees, Trees in Art shows that we can learn much about ourselves from the art of trees.

Extensively illustrated with images of the lunar surface, The Moon is an accessible introduction that will appeal to both amateur and professional astronomers and all those fascinated by Earth's natural satellite