Reaktion Books

An anthology both personal and profound exploring the deep meaning of reading in our lives. Readers for Life is a collection of essays, mainly specially commissioned for the book, by fiction authors...

Now in paperback, a beautifully illustrated introduction to the life and work of the exceptional Dutch painter. Rembrandt van Rijn and the Netherlands grew up together. The artist, born in Leiden in...

A local rock star once said, "San Francisco is forty-nine square miles surrounded by reality." No American city has such a broad sweep of staggering views--of the ocean, of a huge bay, of surrounding...

An illuminating history of the forgotten concept of climatic botany that underscores how vital forests are to our future. Saving the World tells the forgotten history of climatic botany, the idea...

A critical biography of the twentieth-century Russian composer and pianist. This wide-ranging and incisive biography unfolds the life and work of the much-loved twentieth-century composer Sergei...

A gritty, smoke-filled, and boozy account of musician Tom Waits's formative decade in Los Angeles. Song Noir examines the formative first decade of Tom Waits's career, when he lived, wrote, and...

An investigation of the influences and evolution of modern Spain's underappreciated, but foundational, architecture. Spain's remarkable twentieth-century architecture evolved against a turbulent...

The story of our deep and multifaceted connections to geological matter--the very bedrock of our lives. From small beach pebbles to huge megaliths, stones have been revered, collected, enhanced,...

A collection of highlights from Mary Ann Caws's long, highly distinguished career writing about literature, art, and modernism. Throughout her long, highly distinguished career writing about...

An accessible guide to the history of the Assyrian empire from the perspective of its powerful elites. At the height of its power near 660 BC, the Assyrian empire, centered in northern Iraq, wielded...

From celebrated historian and writer Peter Ackroyd, a magisterial portrayal of English Christianity over the centuries. This book portrays the spirit and nature of English Christianity, as it has...

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...

Once upon a time: the forgotten female fabulists whose heroines flipped the fairy tale script. People often associate fairy tales with Disney films and with the male authors from whom Disney often...

Matisse, Picasso, Hockney--they may not have been from the same period, but they all painted still lifes of food. And they are not alone. Andy Warhol painted soup cans, Claes Oldenburg sculpted an...

The behind-the-scenes story of the controversial 1960s made-for-tv rock band. The Monkees represent a vital problem for rock and pop: is it the music that matters or the personality and image of the...

Vivid and racy, a deep-dive into tabloids from their sixteenth-century beginnings to the National Inquirer and beyond. The Newsmongers unfolds the seedy history of tabloid journalism, from the first...

Drawing on an impressive range of archaeological and textual sources and a nuanced understanding of biases, this book offers a valuable reappraisal of the enigmatic Phoenicians. The Phoenicians is a...

Fall captive to the code--the real-life buccaneer bylaws that shaped every aspect of a pirate's life. Pirates have long captured our imaginations with images of cutlass-wielding swashbucklers, eye...

From the pleasures of mending to the problems of fast fashion, an intimate look at the creativity, community, and deep meaning sewed into every stitch. Tens of millions of people sew for necessity...

A gripping account of the rise and fall of the last great medieval military order. This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the knights of the Teutonic Order, the last of the great...

An expansive and accessible introduction to the history of Korea during the first millennium CE. Korea's Three Kingdoms period is a genuine "lost civilization," during which ancient realms vied for...

An engaging and accessible introduction to the music, poetry, and lives of the medieval singer-songwriters. Composing songs of love and war in medieval Western and Southern Europe, troubadours...

Laced with illustrations of undergarments both prosaic and exotic, a global exposé of the hidden meaning of knickers, lingerie, and everything in between. This book unravels the intimate narratives...

"At once deeply-researched and as readable as a thriller."--Mark Galeotti - "An important book about the world's most dangerous mercenary outfit. Margolin unearths new details that will surprise...

The surprising, spicy story of this globe-trotting vegetable protein staple. To the untrained eye, there's nothing as unexciting as tofu, normally regarded as a tasteless, beige, congealed mass of...

Trick Or Treat: A History Of HalloweenAuthor: Lisa MortonPublisher: Reaktion BooksPublication Date: Sep 12, 2019Number of Pages: 232 pagesLanguage: EnglishBinding: PaperbackISBN-10:...

Every year, children and adults alike take to the streets dressed as witches, demons, animals, celebrities, and more. They carve pumpkins and play pranks, and the braver ones watch scary movies and...

Wanderers: A History Of Women WalkingAuthor: Kerri AndrewsPublisher: Reaktion BooksPublication Date: Aug 25, 2021Number of Pages: 304 pagesLanguage: EnglishBinding: PaperbackISBN-10:...

A sweeping collection of women's writing on the wandering path, moving across genres, geographies, and centuries. The follow-up to the celebrated Wanderers, Kerri Andrews's Way Makers is the first...

Now in paperback, an entertaining and enlightening compendium at the intersection of two great British folk traditions: song and encounters with the law. At the heart of traditional songs rest the...