Böcker i The Cultural Histories Series-serien

The Enlightenment raised fundamental questions about what it meant to be human in a truly global world. At the heart of debates about nature, culture and history, the garden offered itself as a practical demonstration, a living experiment, and a site of debate and discourse. The design, planting, experience and representation of contemporary gardens in Europe, China and North America reveal intense contributions to debates on aesthetics, both personal and national politics, and on the shaping of nature.

The history of the garden in the Renaissance, traced from the late fourteenth century in Italy to the death of André Le Nôtre in 1700 in France, is a story both of dynamism and codification. The period saw the emergence of what would become archetypal elements of the formal garden and the fixing of theory and language of the garden arts. At the same time, newly important sciences, developments in engineering, as well as globalization, historicity, and theories of aesthetics were embraced in the construction of such gardens. The result was the notion of the landscape as something to be labored on, created, and delighted in, that ultimately would become a stage upon which Renaissance cultural politics played out.

The Middle Ages was a time of great upheaval - the period between the seventh and fourteenth centuries saw great social, political and economic change. The radically distinct cultures of the Christian West, Byzantium, Persian-influenced Islam, and al-Andalus resulted in different responses to the garden arts of antiquity and different attitudes to the natural world and its artful manipulation. Yet these cultures interacted and communicated, trading plants, myths and texts. By the fifteenth century the garden as a cultural phenomenon was immensely sophisticated and a vital element in the way society saw itself and its relation to nature. A Cultural History of Gardens in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period with essays on issues of design, types of gardens, planting, use and reception, issues of meaning, verbal and visual representation of gardens, and the relationship of gardens to the larger landscape.

The dramatic changes of the 20th century propelled women into unprecedented circumstances. The entrance of women into public space, particularly through their involvement in the labour market, fundamentally changed meanings of feminine identity across the globe. Massive migration created encounters between women of different ethnicities, beliefs, and allegiances. This displacement produced an exchange of critical ideas and technologies between women across cultures, between women and the state, and between the demands of homemaking and workplaces. Women were impacted by diverse factors including urbanisation, industrialisation, mass-migration and communication, the intervention of the nation-state in the duties of home and childraising, totalitarian political regimes and decolonisation, eugenics and contraception, medicine, AIDS and feminism. A Cultural History of Women in the Modern Age spans the 20th century with essays on changing ideas of the fetus, female orgasm, faith and forms of worship, pathology and technological intervention, the labour market, feminism and power, and challenges to the artistic canon by women of colour.

The Renaissance was a period of significant cultural transformation in Europe: women were both agents and objects of this historical process. The period witnessed revolutions in nearly every cultural domain, including the controversies of the Reformation, the rise of nascent capitalism, the influence of Humanism, advances in science and medicine, and shifts in the boundaries between public and private life, all of which profoundly affected women''s lives.A Cultural History of Women in the Renaissance covers the period 1400-1650, giving an overview of how changes in social, educational, economic, scientific, religious and artistic paradigms affected cultural constructions of gender and the lived experiences of women in the period. Each chapter draws on a wide range of sources to chart the complex and often contradictory cultural logics of gender in Renaissance culture.

The history of gardens in antiquity is characterized by a rich mix of cultures interacting throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. This period - from the sixth century BCE to the sixth century CE - was foundational to the later periods of garden history. The emergence of advanced horticultural techniques, sustained regional and international trade routes, and centralized power structures promoted the development of highly sophisticated garden culture in both private and public contexts. New evidence derived from archaeology and fresh analysis of literary and visual sources revises our perspective, reminding us that these garden cultures were varied and diverse, yet connected through ritual, trade, conquest, and cultural practices in ways we are only beginning to define.

A thematic overview of how sexuality was perceived in the period from 1920 to 2000, covering homosexuality, heterosexuality, sexual variations, prostitution, medicine, religion, erotica and popular belief.

A thematic overview of how sexuality was perceived in the period from 1820 to 1920, covering homosexuality, heterosexuality, sexual variations, prostitution, medicine, religion, erotica and popular belief.

A thematic overview of how sexuality was perceived in the period from 350 to 1450, covering homosexuality, heterosexuality, sexual variations, prostitution, medicine, religion, erotica and popular belief.

A thematic overview of how the human body was perceived in the period from 1650 to 1800, covering birth and death, health and disease, sex and eroticism, medicine, popular beliefs and the self.

A thematic overview of how the human body was perceived in the period from 500 to 1500, covering birth and death, health and disease, sex and eroticism, medicine, popular beliefs and the self.

A thematic overview of how the human body was perceived in the period from 750 BCE to 1000 CE, covering birth and death, health and disease, sex and eroticism, medicine, popular beliefs and the self.

A thematic overview of how animals were seen and used in the period from1920 to the present day, covering symbolism, hunting, domestication, sports and entertainment, science, philosophy, and art.

A thematic overview of how animals were seen and used in the period from 1600 to 1800, covering symbolism, hunting, domestication, sports and entertainment, science, philosophy, and art.

A thematic overview of how animals were seen and used in the period from 1400 to 1600, covering symbolism, hunting, domestication, sports and entertainment, science, philosophy, and art.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries form a very distinctive period in European food history. This was a time when enduring feudal constraints in some areas contrasted with widening geographical horizons and the emergence of a consumer society.While cereal based diets and small scale trade continued to be the mainstay of the general population, elite tastes shifted from Renaissance opulence toward the greater simplicity and elegance of dining à la française. At the same time, growing spatial mobility and urbanization boosted the demand for professional cooking and commercial catering. An unprecedented wealth of artistic, literary and medical discourses on food and drink allows fascinating insights into contemporary responses to these transformations.A Cultural History of Food in the Early Modern Age presents an overview of the period with essays on food production, food systems, food security, safety and crises, food and politics, eating out, professional cooking, kitchens and service work, family and domesticity, body and soul, representations of food, and developments in food production and consumption globally.