Reaktion Books strana 3 z 9

While trees are celebrated as symbols of natural beauty, they are increasingly at risk from climate change, disease, fires and urban expansion. Trees Ancient and Modern explores humanity’s deep connection with trees and woodlands, highlighting their beauty and importance and the challenges they face. The book looks at debates about creating new woodlands, exploring questions of location, ownership and management. Using diverse sources such as literature, art, historical records, scientific surveys and oral histories, Charles Watkins reveals how people have used, valued and understood forests over time. He also assesses modern threats to woodlands and considers how best to conserve them. Richly illustrated, this is a global social and cultural history of forests that provides valuable insights for future management.

This book guides us through the fascinating life and writings of Marcus Aurelius, the only Roman emperor celebrated for centuries for his decency and earnest Stoic philosophy. Philosopher William O. Stephens explores Marcus’ reluctant rise to power, his marriage and his efforts to mould his son into a successor. He examines Marcus’ Stoic tenets as he describes the struggles of dealing with a fifteen-year pandemic, the betrayal of a trusted general, social upheaval centred on a new ‘superstition’ – Christianity – and how Marcus’ determination to stabilize the empire’s borders met with strife, broken treaties and protracted wars. This gripping narrative of Marcus’ life, times and thought, as well as his complex legacy, will appeal to all those interested in Roman history as well as to aspiring Stoics.

Before Chanel, Dior or Saint Laurent, there was Paul Poiret. Born in Paris in 1879, he was the most audacious couturier of the pre-war era. While his outré styles were worn by some of the most famous celebrities in Europe and America, they were in fact the most fleeting facet of his work. Mary E. Davis explores how Poiret’s genius was to place fashion at the centre of a network of style, culture and commerce. He founded groundbreaking perfume and interior design businesses, sponsored musical performances, amassed a modernist art collection and threw fantastical – and newsworthy – balls. Poiret’s businesses faded by the end of the 1920s, but as this book reveals, his unifying vision set the model for the luxury industry as we know it.

In this thought-provoking work, historian Justin M. Jacobs challenges the widely accepted belief that many of Western museums’ treasures were acquired by imperialist plunder and theft. His account re-examines the allegedly immoral provenance of Western collections, advocating for a nuanced understanding of how artefacts reached Western shores. Jacobs examines the perspectives of Chinese, Egyptian and other participants in the global antiquities trade over the past two and a half centuries, revealing that Western collectors were often willingly embraced by locals. This collaborative dynamic, largely ignored by contemporary museum critics, unfolds a narrative that may lead to hope and promise for a brighter, more equitable future.

Afghanistan, at the meeting place of the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Central Asia, holds a key place in the spread of ancient civilizations. Its remarkable cultural heritage includes the Bronze Age Helmand civilization, the Greek kingdom of Bactria, the Kushan Empire and the Ghaznavid Empire – yet much of its history remains unknown to a general audience. This beautifully illustrated book unveils Afghanistan’s ancient cities, temples, stupas, monasteries and other monuments set against breathtaking landscapes, presenting them to a wider audience. Incorporating the latest research and discoveries, it is a captivating journey through Afghanistan’s rich antiquities, brought to life with the author’s vivid, full-colour photographs.

This book explores the role of horses across the medieval world, from the Kievan Rus' and Scandinavia to Central Europe, Byzantium, the Arab world and Asia, including China and India. Covering the early medieval period to the late Middle Ages, it examines how horses shaped societies, warfare and culture and how their legacy persists in traditional equestrian sports today. Drawing on little-known primary sources, artefacts, and the author’s hands-on experience with historical horsemanship, the book offers a vivid account of the deep connection between people and horses. Combining scholarly insight with practical knowledge, this is the most comprehensive study of medieval horses in Europe and Asia to date.

The Secret Sacred explores the hidden religious practices of the classical world. These cults, shrouded in secrecy, promised initiates a transformative afterlife. While many rituals remain mysterious, artworks and historical texts provide glimpses of their underlying beliefs. The book examines Greco-Roman religious traditions and their divergence into mystery cults, including Bacchic ceremonies depicted in frescoes, Orphic gold tablets guiding souls in the underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries celebrating Demeter and Persephone’s cycle of rebirth. Eastern deities like Mithras, Isis and Cybele also feature in the cults discussed. The possible influence of mystery religions on early Christianity is also explored, drawing parallels with modern-day beliefs. Featuring the most recent archaeological discoveries and stunning museum artefacts, this is a lively account of the concealed faiths of the ancient world.

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) is celebrated for his supernatural fiction such as 'The Sandman' as well as his musical achievements, notably the opera Undine. This book offers a concise yet comprehensive introduction to Hoffmann as a Romantic writer, composer and public figure. It follows his life as a lawyer, theatre director and senior judge in Berlin, where he clashed with authorities over their persecution of student radicals. Drawing on Hoffmann’s personal writings and contemporary recollections, it also highlights how historical events like Napoleon’s invasion disrupted his career. By combining his literary and musical contributions, the book presents Hoffmann as a multifaceted artist whose inventiveness, both comic and spine-chilling, remain influential today.

Kim Il Sung ruled his country, North Korea, for longer and shaped it more profoundly than almost any other modern leader. He created a unique and seemingly bizarre and menacing political and social system, establishing a dynasty that has maintained it for two more generations. Yet he remains a curiously inaccessible, little understood figure, partly due to the closed and secretive nature of the state he founded. Michael J. Seth puts together what we know of Kim’s life from all available sources and places it in the context of Korean and modern world history to make both Kim and North Korea comprehensible.  He looks at the unusual circumstances that contributed to Kim's rise to power and at the early experiences that help to explain the directions he took his country.  Seth examines his impressive early achievements and his later failures, which left North Korea the isolated, impoverished half of a divided nation. Kim was a charismatic and resourceful leader determined to reunify and modernize his country. But he pursued these aims with ruthlessness, egotism and extreme narrow-mindedness. Ultimately, his political inflexibility led to disaster.

Nature writers Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen set out in search of sounds beautiful and loathsome, melodious and disturbing, healing, strange and intimate. The phenomena of sound may be fleeting and evanescent, but the memory of it can open a window into the soul, deepening our connections with time, the environment and each other. From the edge of the solar system to the crackle of arctic sea ice, from the ancient oracle site of Dodona to the singing pillars of Hampi, each of these 36 essays explores stories of sound through the lens of history, science and culture, stylishly blending fantastical facts and unique anecdotes to create a compelling narrative.

Jean Baudrillard, once hailed as a ‘historian of the future’, remains a vital figure for understanding modern life. Famous for ideas like ‘simulation’ and the ‘hyperreal’, linked to postmodernism and The Matrix, Baudrillard was both celebrated and controversial, known for bold pronouncements about events like the Gulf War and 9/11. Yet the man himself was enigmatic, leading a public life while remaining personally elusive. This first biography in English explores Baudrillard’s life and work, tracing his journey from the early years and French intellectual prominence to his global influence as a thinker, photographer and public intellectual. Using newly uncovered material, it provides fresh insights into his major works and ideas, offering readers a clear guide to his singular, uncompromising philosophy.

Scipio Africanus (235–183 BC) commanded his first army at the age of 25, led a daring invasion in Africa to personally defeat Hannibal and secured Rome’s dominance over the Mediterranean. In ten years of command he never lost a battle, employing bold strategies to triumph over six enemy generals. Charismatic, ruthless and self-confident almost to the point of arrogance, Scipio was the first Roman leader hailed as Imperator, ‘victorious commander’, a title later adopted by emperors. He drove Carthage’s forces from Spain and annexed its territories, and later imposed terms on Antiochus III, extending Rome’s reach eastward; yet political jealousy at home led to his bitter exile. This biography explores the fortunes, fame and fate of a leader who outshone Caesar in military genius.

Jacobitism, the cause championed by the exiled Stuart royal house, endured from the Revolution of 1688–91 until 1807, fuelled by plots, propaganda and uprisings – especially in Scotland. As the movement shifted from exiled courts in France and Italy to a wider diaspora, Jacobites spread across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. From soldiers in European armies to settlers in British American colonies, Jacobites left a global impact: aiding Native American resistance yet also engaging in the enslavement of Black Africans. Their experiences abroad influenced European Enlightenment and Romanticism. This book offers a critical yet sympathetic view of Jacobitism, revealing its complex legacy across the world.

The Fatimids (909–1171), one of the most significant and intriguing Islamic dynasties, built an empire that included North Africa, Egypt and parts of Sicily, Syria, Palestine and Arabia. Theirs is the only pre-modern Shi‘i dynasty to have established an independent empire and the only one known by a female’s name, Fatima, the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter. The Fatimids promoted women to unprecedented positions of authority and visibility in Islamic history. From Cairo – which they founded in 969 – this dynasty fostered cultural and artistic excellence as well as overall tolerance and prosperity across the empire. By blending historical and material sources, personalities and events that defined the Fatimid era are brought to life in this book. Examining their impact within the context of medieval history across Europe, Africa and Asia, the book also tells of the Fatimids’ legacy and influence on contemporary culture worldwide.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124–1204), the legendary queen of France and later England, has captivated historians for centuries. Heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine, wife to King Henry II and mother to Richard the Lionheart and King John, her life was marked by power, influence and myth. This concise, accessible history sheds new light on Eleanor, cutting through the hearsay and slander with a close reading of primary sources. It highlights the family bonds that shaped her power and identity, tracing her roots to the Loire rather than the Occitan south. Lindy Grant demonstrates that Eleanor’s story is one of resilience: like Churchill, she saved England during a national crisis, though her political judgement could be equally erratic.

One of New Scientist’s Best Popular Science Books of 2025Artists have captured the marvels of ocean life throughout history. From fine art to scientific illustrations, these portrayals help us to appreciate and interpret the diversity of shapes, colours and patterns of the remarkable organisms that inhabit the oceans of the world. In Ocean Art, marine biologist and writer Helen Scales takes readers on a tour of ocean art, looking for the most striking and meaningful depictions of sea creatures, from ancient times to modern and from the coast to the deepest abyss, reflecting on how these works influence our view of life beneath the waves. This richly illustrated celebration of the beauty and wonders of ocean life is also a call to cherish and protect the endangered living seas.