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Cat traces the long relationship between humans and the cosily domestic, yet eerie cat.

Steven Roger Fischer's fascinating book traces the complete story of reading from the time when symbol first became sign through to the electronic texts of the present day. Describing ancient forms of reading and the various modes that were necessary to read different writing systems and scripts, Fischer turns to Asia and the Americas and discusses the forms and developments of completely divergent dimensions of reading.

The British public school is an iconic institution, traditionally a training ground for the ruling elite and a symbol of national identity. But beyond the elegant architecture and evergreen playing fields is a turbulent history of teenage rebellion, sexual dissidence and political radicalism. This book wades into the wilder shores of public school life over the last three hundred years. It uncovers armed mutinies in the late eighteenth century, a Victorian craze for flagellation, dandy aesthetes of the 1920s, quasi-scientific discourse on masturbation, Communist scares in the 1930s and the salacious tabloid scandals of the present day. Drawing on personal experience, extensive research and public school representations in poetry, school slang, spy films, popular novels and rock music, the author offers a fresh account of upper-class adolescence in Britain and the role of elite private education in shaping youth culture. He shows how this central British institution has inspired a counter-culture of artists, intellectuals and radicals - from Percy Shelley and George Orwell, to Peter Gabriel and Richard Branson - who have rebelled against both the schools and the wider society for which they stand.

With vibrant illustrations and tales of medieval best-sellers, nurserymen's rivalries and changing tastes in the flower bed, this book traces the journey of the rose across the centuries, from battles to bouquets, charting its botanical, religious, literary and artistic history.

In this up-to-date and beautifully illustrated volume, William Sheehan brings our understanding of the planet into clear focus. He deftly traces the history from the earliest observations right up to the most recent explorations using radar and spacecraft.

Richly illustrated throughout, Birch presents a fascinating overview of their cultural and ecological significance, from botany to literature and art, as Anna Lewington looks both at the history of birches and what the future may hold in store for them.

Hinterland provides a close-up view of America's hinterland, populated by towering grain-threshing machines and hunched farmworkers as well as telling the intimate story of a life lived within the hinterland.

Exploring the rich array of films, books, television, music and even video games portraying and inspired by the mafia, this book offers not only a social, economic and political history of the mafia but a new way of understanding our enduring fascination with what lurks behind the sinister omerta of the family business.

Offering an account of the status of maps and geographical knowledge in the Early Modern world, this work focuses on how early European geographers mapped the territories of the Old World (Africa and South-East Asia).

In Pickles, author Jan Davison explores the cultural and gastronomic history of fermented vegetables, from the earliest civilizations to the twenty-first century.

As he charts the history of language from the times of Homo erectus, Neanderthal humans and Homo sapiens through to the nineteenth century, when the science of linguistics was developed, Steven Roger Fischer analyses the emergence of language as a science and its development as a written form. He considers the rise of pidgin, creole, jargon and slang, as well as the effects radio and television, propaganda, advertising and the media are having on language today. Looking to the future, he shows how electronic media will continue to reshape and re-invent the ways in which we communicate.

The Dragon traces the history of ideas about dragons and asks what exactly it might be in our imaginations that appears to have necessitated such a creature for thousands of years.

All aboard for a delicious ride on nine legendary railway journeys! Food on the Move focuses on the culinary history of these famous journeys on five continents, from the earliest days of rail travel to the present, and includes recipes taken from historical menus and contributed by contemporary chefs.

Whet Moser's book reveals how Chicago grew into a metropolis through its social, urban, cultural and sometimes scandalous history. He takes readers from the very beginnings of the city to the global city it has become - and offers a local's perspective on the best and most interesting aspects of Chicago to visitors today.

Explores the riotous realm of marginal art to be found protuding from the edges of medieval buildings and in the margins of manuscripts.

Zebra is a comprehensive and wide-ranging study of the natural and cultural history of this popular animal.

Ugliness: A Cultural History explores perceptions of ugliness through history, from ancient Roman feasts to medieval grotesque gargoyles, and from Dr Frankenstein's monster to the Nazi Exhibition of Degenerate Art. Covering literature, art, music and even Uglydolls, the book reveals how ugliness has long posed a challenge to aesthetics and taste.

With its historical narrative, reflections on the city today and treasure trove of images, this book show that, if history is any guide, there is much more to come in San Francisco.

In The Greeks, Philip Matyszak illuminates the Greek soldiers, statesmen, scientists and philosophers who, though they seldom - if ever - set foot on the Greek mainland, nevertheless laid the foundations of what we call 'Greek culture' today.

Empire of Tea is a cultural history of tea, from its ancient origins in China to its position as the world's favorite beverage today. It shows how tea was one of the first truly global commodities, and gave rise to the earliest cultural and economic exchanges between China and Britain.

In this ground-breaking book Alison Green provides the first critical history of visual artists curating exhibitions.

Niccolo Guicciardini's enlightening biography offers an accessible introduction to Newton's celebrated work in mathematics, optics and astronomy and to how Newton viewed these scientific fields in relation to his quest for the deepest secrets of the universe, matter theory and religion.

A unique exploration of the biology and history of sheep, as well as their place in literature and the other creative arts.

A new, critical account of the life and work of influential French painter Paul Cezanne.

Lorna Piatti-Farnell describes the story of how this fruit (which is technically a berry) has become one of the most popular foods on the planet.

An exploration of how 'north' has been represented in art and literature.