Böcker utgivna av Reaktion Books

Meteorite: Nature and Culture is a unique, richly illustrated cultural history of these ancient and mysterious phenomena.

Ireland and Britain have an entwined and contentious past. Though southern Ireland broke with the Commonwealth in 1948, Northern Ireland remains a member of the United Kingdom to this day. As Fionna Barber shows in Art In Ireland since 1910, Ireland's relationship to its closest neighbor has played a key role in the development of its visual culture. Using the work of Jack B. Yeats, William Leech, John Lavery, William Orpen, F. E. McWilliam, Francis Bacon, and others, Barberlooks at how Ireland's art practice during the past century has been shaped by the twin forces of nationhood and modernity. Barber reveals that the drive to decolonization in the Irish Free State underpinned a predominance of images of remote landscapes and rugged peasantry. She moves beyond discussions of art in Northern Ireland--often reduced to a concern with the Troubles, the period of ethno-political conflict that began in 1969, and the significance of its status as part of Britain--to consider the region's art practice in relation to ideas of nation and the modern. Drawing parallels with artists from other former British colonies, she also looks at the theme of diaspora and migration in the work of Irish artists working in Britain during the 1950s. The first book to examine Irish art from the early twentieth century to the present day, this beautifully illustrated book adds a new dimension to our conception of this idyllic country.

Though gardening is beloved the world over, the style of gardens themselves varies from region to region, determined as much by culture as climate. In this series of illustrated essays, John Dixon Hunt takes us on a world tour of different periods in the making of gardens.

Martha Jay traces the history of allium family - onions, shallots, garlic, chives, and leeks - back to the earliest civilizations of the Fertile Crescent and the recipes of ancient Mesopotamia.

A cultural and natural history of the moth, which may seem drab compared to the butterfly, but which in fact has more species and brighter colouring than its day-flying cousin.

A classic account of how landscape has been central to questions of 'Englishness' - of national identity, history and modernity, as well as concepts of citizenship and the body.

A stunning, beautifully illustrated exploration of urban underground spaces, bringing together a collection of 80 subterranean sites from around the world.

Charlotte Horlyck explores oil and ink paintings to video art, multi-media installations, ready-mades and performance, and the questions that arise about the role of art and the artist's position within society.

An acclaimed reassessment of Italian master painter Jacopo Tintoretto, now available in compact pocket format, which charts Tintoretto's life and work in the context of Venetian art and the culture of the Cinquecento.

One of France's most high-profile writers and a Nobel Prize-winner, Albert Camus experienced both public adulation and acrimonious rejection during his career, which was cut short by a fatal car accident in 1960. Edward J. Hughes unravels the life of a complex personality whose work and stance were the subjects of intense interest and scrutiny.

Walter Benjamin's essay 'A Short History of Photography' (1931) made bold statements about photographic pioneers such as David Octavius Hill and Nicéphore Niépce, and the social and historical context of their work. This first selection of Benjamin's writings on photography includes a new translation of this influential essay as well as a range of Benjamin's other writings, both published and unpublished, some of which are translated into English for the first time here.

We might think the Egyptians were the masters of building tombs, but no other civilization has devoted more time and resources to underground burial structures than the Chinese. For at least five thousand years, from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the early twentieth century, the Chinese have been building some of the world's most elaborate tombs and furnishing them with exquisite objects. It is these objects and the concept of the tomb as a "treasure-trove" that The Art of the Yellow Springs seeks to critique, drawing on recent scholarship to examine memorial sites the way they were meant to be experienced: not as a mere store of individual works, but as a work of art itself. Wu Hung bolsters some of the new trends in Chinese art history that have been challenging the conventional ways of studying funerary art. Examining the interpretative methods themselves that guide the study of memorials, he argues that in order to understand Chinese tombs, one must not necessarily forget the individual works present in them--as the beautiful color plates here will prove--but consider them along with a host of other art-historical concepts. These include notions of visuality, viewership, space, analysis, function, and context. The result is a ground-breaking new assessment that demonstrates the amazing richness of one of the longest-running traditions in the whole of art history.

St George: A Saint for All is a compelling account of the myth of St George, one of the most significant mythic figures in Christian culture, as well as many other religions world-wide. The book describes St George's lively and diverse following today, and shows how the saint has inspired artists, poets and painters.

Ruins and Fragments is a wide-ranging, elliptical, engaging view of the history of modernity through the lens of the ruined and fragmentary. It explores literary fragments such as the plays of Aeschylus, as well as how writers - Joyce, Coleridge, Pound, T. S. Elliot - exploit fragmentary techniques and forms.

The first book to examine the films of Jim Jarmusch from a sound-oriented perspective. The three essential acoustic elements that structure a film - music, words and noise - propel this book's fascinating journey through his work, including Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down By Law (1986), Dead Man (1995), and Only Lovers Left Alive (2013).

A lively history of tequila, an unusual liquor that can only be produced in Mexico. This book relates the beginnings of tequila and how it was introduced into the global market, and contains many recipes for tequila-based cocktails, as well as advice on buying, storing, tasting and serving tequila.

Exploring sugar's reputation as one of the most beloved yet reviled substances that we consume, this compelling history of the infamous ingredient is peopled with determined adventurers, relentless sugar barons and greedy plantation owners.

The first in-depth account of the storied history of guinea pig and human interaction, this book shows how guinea pigs have influenced humans since earliest times, including scientists such as William Harvey, and painters from Jan Brueghel to Beatrix Potter.

A new title by best-selling author, zoologist, and former television presenter Desmond Morris, Bison is a natural and cultural history of the bison, an iconic animal of the Great Plains of America.

Beaver explores the fascinating history of this small, often-overlooked, yet important animal and examines why the beaver has been hunted throughout the years, as well as looks at the unique way in which beavers form their societies.

The book traces Malevich's development from his beginnings in Ukraine and early years in Moscow - where he was closely involved in the Futurist circle - through to the late 1920s and beyond.

James Watt: Making the World Anew is a craft history of Britain's early industrial transformation as well as a prehistory of the engineering profession itself.

A natural and cultural history of the hedgehog that explores the symbolism of the animal, from Romans who regarded it as a weather prophet to Sonic the Hedgehog and children's books today.

Rice: A Global History presents in detail the historical journey that rice has taken, from its early origin as a staple food in Asian and West African countries to its ubiquitous place in meals across the world today.

Proposing that the 'forbidden fruit' eaten by Adam and Eve was in fact a fig rather than an apple, this book explores the history of the fruit in fascinating detail, from the Crusaders to the wonderful fig festivals of the modern world.

Dedicated to art practices that mobilize the model of the archive, this book demonstrates the ways in which such 'archival artworks' probe the possibilities of what art is and what it can do.

Introducing the major works and currents of Joseon painting, Pathways to Korean Culture explores the various social, cultural and political perspectives of this dynamic, dynastic era (1392-1910), uncovering the fascinating history of more than 500 years of Korean art and visual culture.

Feasts and Fasts: A History of Indian Food is an exploration of Indian cuisine in the context of the country's religious, moral, social and philosophical development.

In Cannabis Chris Duvall explores the cultural history and geography of humanity's most widely distributed crop, which supplies both hemp and marijuana.

This book traces the history of the animal, moving from their evolution through their domestication and global spread to the role of goats in the modern world.