Reaktion Books imprint: 753 books
Feasts and Fasts
A History of Food in India
Language: English
Release Date: November 15, 2014
From dal to samosas, paneer to vindaloo, dosa to naan, Indian food is diverse and wide-ranging—unsurprising when you consider India’s incredible range of climates, languages, religions, tribes, and customs. Its cuisine differs from north to south, yet what is it that makes Indian food recognizably...
Sugar
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: April 15, 2015
It’s no surprise that sugar has been on our minds for millennia. First cultivated in New Guinea around 8,000 B.C.E., this addictive sweetener has since come to dominate our appetites—whether in candy, desserts, soft drinks, or even pasta sauces—for better and for worse. In this book, Andrew...
by Gregory Votolato
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2012
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2012
From oar-powered quinqueremes, to steam-powered freighters, to luxury ocean liners such as the Titanic,to aircraft carriers like the Abraham Lincoln,ships have played an integral role in trade, transportation, and war throughout history. Today, ships remain the largest and most expensive moving objects...
Gin
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Mother’s Milk, Mother’s Ruin, and Ladies’ Delight. Dutch Courage and Cuckold’s Comfort. These evocative nicknames for gin hint that it has a far livelier history than the simple and classic martini would lead you to believe. In this book, Lesley Jacobs Solmonson journeys into gin’s past,...
Moonshine
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: April 15, 2017
You might think moonshine only comes from ramshackle stills hidden away in the Appalachian Mountains, but the fact of the matter is we’ve been improvising spirits all around the world for centuries. No matter where you go, there is a local bootleg liquor, whether it’s bathtub gin, peatreek, or...
Terror and Toleration
The Habsburg Empire Confronts Islam, 1526-1850
Language: English
Release Date: February 15, 2008
Many negative stereotypes of Muslims can be traced to the clashes between the Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages. Paula Sutter Fichtner explores here the particular dynamics between the Ottoman and Austrian Habsburg empires and chronicles the evolution of a political relationship...
by Peter Bishop
Language: English
Release Date: July 25, 2008
Language: English
Release Date: July 25, 2008
Whether a humble string of planks swaying across a trickling stream or the soaring towers of the Golden Gate Bridge, bridges are one of man’s great engineering feats. Now in Bridge, Peter Bishop provides a comprehensive historical account of their role in the advancement of human culture.
From...
Vodka
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Vodka is the most versatile of spirits. While people in Eastern Europe and the Baltic often drink it neat, swallowing it in one gulp, others use it in cocktails and mixed drinks—bloody marys, screwdrivers, white russians, and Jell-O shots—or mix it with tonic water or ginger beer to create a refreshing...
Three Germanies
West Germany, East Germany and the Berlin Republic
Language: English
Release Date: June 1, 2013
Since the defeat of the Third Reich in 1945, Germany has been in a continual state of turmoil and reinvention. In Three Germanies, Michael Gehler explores the political rollercoaster Germany has been riding since the Yalta Conference, which split postwar Germany into separate zones controlled by the...
Curry
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: November 15, 2009
Curry is one of the most widely used—and misused—terms in the culinary lexicon. Outside of India, the word curry is often used as a catchall to describe any Indian dish or Indian food in general, yet Indians rarely use it to describe their own cuisine. Curry answers the question, “What is curry?”...
Sex Pistols
Poison in the Machine
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2017
The explosive story of the Sex Pistols is now so familiar that the essence of what they represented has been lost in a fog of nostalgia and rock ’n’ roll cliché. In 1976 the rise of the Sex Pistols was regarded in apocalyptic terms, and the punks as visitors from an unwanted future bringing chaos...
Tequila
A Global History
Language: English
Release Date: April 15, 2015
With its unique aroma and heady buzz—the perfect accompaniment to even the spiciest tacos—tequila has won its way into drinkers’ hearts worldwide. There are few places on earth besides Mexico that have the climate and terrain to evolve the agave plant that makes tequila—and there are even...
Pain and Retribution
A Short History of British Prisons 1066 to the Present
Language: English
Release Date: March 15, 2014
Today, the Tower of London is a tourist site, home only to the crown jewels, but not long ago the imposing structure held traitors, political prisoners, and more, often on their way to the chopping block. Even outside of this famous building, prisons have changed radically since the Norman Conquest...
War and Peace
Ireland since the 1960s
Language: English
Release Date: June 1, 2013
In *War and Peace:*Ireland Since 1960, Christine Kinealy explores the political triumphs and travails in Ireland over the last five decades. War and Peace provides a thorough and up-to-date account of the unfolding of “The Troubles,” the three decades of violence and social unrest between the...