A warm welcome to the website of Reaktion Books. Visitors from North, Central or South America please see our website at www.reaktionbooks.com.

Spring 2012 sees the launch of two major new series for Reaktion: Earth, and Reverb. The Earth series illuminates the natural and cultural lives of natural phenomena. The first two titles Volcano and Waterfall describe how these manifestations of power and beauty have inspired art through the centuries. The Reverb series opens with The Beatles in Hamburg and Van Halen. The series offers a new perspective on the significance of music through a wider understanding of particular times and places, and will be essential reading for all aficionados of rock, pop, folk and world music.

Our list this season includes several noteworthy books on food history and culture. Taste Matters by John Prescott, based on scientific research, investigates the likes and dislikes behind our food choices. The Medieval Kitchen provides a comprehensive overview of how both rich and poor ate, drank and cooked in the later medieval period. We are also publishing four new titles in the Edible series: Rum, Herbs, Gin and Vodka. The Edible series was a prizewinner at the 2011 André Simon book awards.

The Animal series celebrates its 50th book this season with Charlotte Sleigh’s Frog. The other books this season are devoted to the exploited Kangaroo, the much maligned Hyena and the irritating Mosquito.

The Nazi, the Painter and the Forgotten Story of the SS Roadis a true-life detective story by a historian who came across some grainy black-and-white footage from the Second World War. In his search for clues to unravel the mystery, he pieces together a fascinating story of road building and forced labour in Ukraine, and the post-war investigations of those responsible. Lastly Olympic Visions: Images of the Games through History appears in the Olympic year and for the first time will give a broad overview of the paintings, photography, films and posters that have depicted the Olympics throughout its history.

We hope you enjoy these and all our new titles this season – for a complete list please click here.

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To download a PDF version of our our Autumn 2011 catalogue click here (2.5Mb), for our Spring 2012 catalogue please click here (4.5Mb) and for our complete backlist catalogue click here (3.3Mb).

Please note: All prices on this website are recommended retail prices and are subject to alteration without notice. Details given of illustrations, format, content, and month of publication were as accurate as possible at the time the website was last updated.