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Richly illustrated with many previously unpublished images, Photography and Germany is the first single-authored history of German photography, and deepens our understanding of how photography cultivates notions of a nation and its inhabitants.

If there is one thing we are short on these days, it's attention. Attention is central to everything we do and think, yet it is mostly an intangible force, an invisible thing that connects us as subjects with the world around us. We pay attention to this or that, let our attention wander--we even stand at attention from time to time--yet rarely do we attend to attention itself. In this book, Gay Watson does just that, musing on attention as one of our most human impulses. As Watson shows, the way we think about attention is usually through its instrumentality, by what can be achieved if we give something enough of it--say, a crisply written report, a newly built bookcase, or even a satisfied child who has yearned for engagement. Yet in losing ourselves to the objects of our fixation, we often neglect the process of attention itself. Exploring everything from attention's effects on our neurons to attention deficit disorder, from the mindfulness movement to the relationship between attention and creativity, Watson examines attention in action through many disciplines and ways of life. Along the way, she offers interviews with an astonishing cast of creative people--from composers to poets to artists to psychologists--including John Luther Adams, Stephen Batchelor, Sue Blackmore, Guy Claxton, Edmund de Waal, Rick Hanson, Jane Hirshfield, Wayne Macgregor, Iain McGilchrist, Garry Fabian Miller, Alice and Peter Oswald, Ruth Ozeki, and James Turrell. A valuable and timely account of something central to our lives yet all too often neglected, this book will appeal to anyone who has felt their attention under threat in the clamors of modern life.

'Llama' charts the history of llamas and their close relatives alpacas, guanacos and vicunas. The book recounts the animal's rich natural history as well as its presence in art, literature and film.

In this new critical biography Frida Beckman traces Gilles Deleuze's remarkable intellectual journey, mapping the encounters from which his life and work emerged.

Contains many fascinating facts about the world's fastest animal, including falcons in secret military projects and espionage; falcons nesting in the middle of cities; the history of the race to save the peregrine; and the colourful sport of falconry.

The zombie has shuffled with dead-eyed, remorseless menace from its beginnings in folklore and primitive superstition to become the dominant image of the undead. Roger Luckhurst sifts material from anthropology, folklore, long-forgotten pulp literature, B-movies, medical history and cultural theory to give a definitive introduction to the zombie.

Drawing on archaeological evidence and a wealth of oral and written history, this book reveals the journey Vietnamese food has traversed through history to become a much-loved cuisine today.

In this compelling journey through peaks both real and imaginary, Veronica della Dora explores how the history of mountains is deeply interlaced with cultural values and aesthetic tastes, with religious beliefs and scientific practices.

Edible Flowers is the fascinating history of how flowers have been used in cooking from ancient customs to modern kitchens. It also serves up novel ways to prepare and eat soups, salads, desserts and drinks. Discover something new about the flowers all around you with this surprising history.

Chillies traces the culinary journey of the spice and uncovers cultural and spiritual links between chillies and humans, from their use as an aphrodisiac, to the recent discovery that chilli heat shows promise as a treatment for neuropathic pain, prostate cancer and leukaemia.

An exploration of the issues that arise when philosophers ask 'how are we to eat?'

A new, critical biography of enigmatic French theorist, writer, actor and artist Antonin Artaud examining Artaud's work in relation to his life, as well as the many influential figures he came into contact with.

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.

As a colour, black is a single hue. It comes in no other shades. But despite its commonly accepted role as one half of a pair, in symbolic terms black envelops the entire spectrum of meaning. The Story of Black explores the ambiguous relationship the world's cultures have had with this often self-contradictory colour

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 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.

Doughnuts, those deep-fried pieces of dough, have powerful associations with nostalgia, irreverence and playfulness. Doughnut: A Global History takes the reader on a fast-paced journey through the story of this iconic food, from prehistory, ancient Egypt and Rome to medieval Europe and the Renaissance to Krispy Kremes and today's artisan creations.

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 critical reinterpretation of India's leading role in the history of modern architecture, this book shows how architecture in India has reflected and embodied dramatic shifts in Indian society and culture over the course of the twentieth century.

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.