From the rise of the egalitarian Little Free Library movement (motto: 'Take a book, return a book') to the growth in luxury hotel libraries, Alex Johnson - whose parents were both librarians - maps...
Giorgio Vasari’s The Lives of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550 and 1568) is a classic of cultural history. A monumental assembly of artists’ lives from Giotto to...
Mick Jagger is universal. His unmistakable face has made him the archetypal rock star. His charisma has fueled the admiration and passion of his fans, the way he moves his body has shaped the myth ...
In The Spectacle of Illusion, professional magician-turned experimental psychologist Dr. Matthew L. Tompkins investigates the arts of deception as practiced and popularized by mesmerists, magicians...
This book is about how we experience art, how we look at it, how we think about it. It is structured in the form of a series of conversations in some of the best-known museums in the world, but als...
An overview of the life and work of much-loved children’s illustrator and author Judith Kerr, creator of classics such as The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and Mog.A thoughtful and intimate po...
Marvellous Magicians celebrates the work of eight pioneering illusionists, both famous and under-represented, whose tricks have been the making of modern magic. Through a magical blend of biography...
The spirit of exploration is alive and well in the twenty-first century. This collection of thrilling and inspiring accounts from today’s most intrepid explorers offers a unique insight into ...
From prescription medicines and alcohol to cocaine and cannabis, the use of drugs has reached an unprecedented high. We have always sought to alter our moods and relieve pain, so why today are some...
In the era of celebrity culture, we are now more fascinated than ever with the lives of our leading artists. Creative personalities are always intriguing, and to learn something new about the great...
The sea has been an endless source of fascination, at once both alluring and mysterious, a place of wonder and terror. The Sea Journal contains first-hand records by a great range of travellers of ...
A gorgeous showcase of twenty-eight female Australian surfers from Tasmania to Noosa. The women of Surf Life are strong, independent, and resilient - incredible surfers who live, work, and create ...
Speed, regulation and mass production defined the first Industrial Revolution, but we have entered a new era. Today’s revolution has been driven by digital technologies and tools, giving rise...
A close ally of Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot and Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt was the only American painter at the heart of the Impressionist group in Paris. Highly respected on both sides of the ...
For Picasso he was ‘like our father’; for Matisse, ‘a god of painting’. Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) is widely regarded as the father of modern art. In this authori...
Quentin Tarantino is one of the most influential and distinctive filmmakers at work in the world today. His films are so admired that nearly every one he makes becomes an instant cult classic. Here...
Talked over, talked down or talked for, the history of sex work is one of control, stigma and stereotype in which the lived experience of people selling sex is largely obscured. In this provocative...
Salvador Dalí was, and remains, among the most universally recognizable artists of the twentieth century. What accounts for this popularity? His excellence as an artist? Or his genius as a s...
Fêted for their idiosyncratic and imaginative works, the surrealists marked a pivotal moment in the history of modern art in Britain. Many banded together to form the British Surrealist Group...
For almost 60 years the Rolling Stones have helped shape popular culture around the globe. Unzipped captures the compelling character and dynamic spectacle of the band through distinctive photograp...