Reaktion Books

With implications for the war in Ukraine, a surprising history of the Crimean Tatars from the fifteenth century to the present day. The Crimean Tatars were the Turkic-speaking native peoples of...

Bursting with images from across time, a sparkling chronicle of rockets, pinwheels, and more. This book illuminates the glittering history of fireworks, from their mysterious beginnings to the...

A spine-tingling exploration of a venture as ancient as the pyramids themselves. To secure a comfortable afterlife, ancient Egyptians built fortress-like tombs and filled them with precious goods, a...

From cave paintings to Google, a thought-provoking investigation of how maps do not just reflect the world around us, but shape the way we live. Maps go far beyond just showing us where things are...

A visual exploration of the Buddhist stupa or reliquary mounds at one of ancient India's most remarkable monuments at Amaravati. In this book, Jas Elsner presents a fresh perspective on the rich...

A revisionist biography of Andreas Vesalius--the father of modern anatomy--as deeply shaped by Renaissance culture. In 1543 the young and ambitious physician Andreas Vesalius published one of the...

Exquisitely illustrated and innovative, an investigation of the artistic evolution of John James Audubon. John James Audubon (1785-1851), artist, naturalist, and creator of the celebrated The Birds...

Arguing that British comics are distinct from their international counterparts, a unique showcase of the major role they have played in the imaginative lives of British youth?nd some adults. In this...

From Halloween expert Morton, a level-headed and entertaining history of our desire and attempts to hold conversations with the dead. Calling the Spirits investigates the eerie history of our...

Now in paperback, an accessible and beautifully illustrated account of Caravaggio as a catalyst for modernity. Undeniably one of the greatest artists of all time, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio...

An exploration of the science and cultural significance of carnivorous plants, now in paperback. Carnivorous plants are a unique botanical group, possessing modified leaves to trap, kill, and consume...

Spanning thousands of years, a wide-ranging history of Pakistan from the Bronze Age to partition and beyond. This book takes us on a sweeping journey through the ebbs and flows of Pakistan's history,...

A captivating journey spanning five thousand years of Chinese culinary heritage, exploring the essence of each era through seven extraordinary meals. China in Seven Banquets takes readers on a...

Most of us can?t make it through morning without our cup (or cups) of joe, and we?re not alone. Coffee is a global beverage: it?s grown commercially on four continents and consumed enthusiastically...

Crooners sing close to the mic in a soft, intimate style. In this book Alex Coles explores the crooner in popular music from the 1950s to the present. Each chapter focuses on one song and one singer...

An entertaining and wide-ranging romp through the cultural history of a peculiar bird. The cuckoo is peculiar for inspiring such divergent ideas: a symbol of foolishness to both Aristophanes and...

The story of how the movies assumed a gritty facade in the name of authenticity, with working actors transforming into artists, poets, painters, troubadours, and filmmakers--both on- and off-screen...

A new account of globalization's decline as the natural outworking of market economics. Globalization as we know it is over. Governments continue to embrace regressive industrial policies,...

A sweeping history of how ecological challenges have shaped English society over the last sixty years. England's Green explores how environmental concerns have shaped and reflected English national...

Fabulosa!: The Story Of Polari, Britain'S Secret Gay LanguageAuthor: Paul BakerPublisher: Reaktion BooksPublication Date: Aug 02, 2020Number of Pages: 320 pagesLanguage: EnglishBinding:...

Don?t be fooled by Tinkerbell and her pixie dust?the real fairies were dangerous. In the late seventeenth century, they could still scare people to death. Little wonder, as they were thought to be...

A new critical biography of medieval England's most famous poet. For over six centuries, Chaucer has epitomized poetic greatness, though more recent treatments of The Canterbury Tales' lively and...

Griffinology' is a fascinating exploration of the mythical creature?s many depictions in human culture. Drawing on a wealth of historical and literary sources, this book shows how the griffin has...

Hannah Arendt is one of the most renowned political thinkers of the twentieth century, and her work has never been more relevant than it is today. Born in Germany in 1906, Arendt published her first...

The untold story of the engineering behind the empire, showing how imperial Spain built upon existing infrastructure and hierarchies of the Inca, Aztec, and more, to further its growth...

A gripping biography of the English ship pilot who would become one of the most influential Westerners in feudal Japan. In 1600, English helmsman William Adams washed ashore in Japan and was...

A profound analysis of the factors underlying the 2021 invasion of the US Capitol, arriving as the nation looks ahead to another tumultuous presidential election in 2024. Insurrection offers a...

A critical biography of a major novelist and art critic from the late nineteenth-century French decadent movement. J.-K. Huysmans (1848-1907) is often hailed as a forerunner of modernist letters...

Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great VikingsAuthor: Tom ShippeyPublisher: Reaktion BooksPublication Date: November 07, 2020Number of Pages: 368 pagesLanguage: EnglishBinding:...

An eye-opening and richly detailed history of women's sexuality that upends entrenched perceptions of the long eighteenth century. Libertine London investigates the sex lives of women throughout the...