Cultural studies Books

The world food system is put under the microscope in this updated edition of The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food. Wayne Roberts puts under the microscope a global food system that is under strain from climate change and economic disaster. He...

Berries are enmeshed with human history. Widely available in nature, they have been part of the human diet for millennia, and today they inspire everything from lip-gloss flavours to amusement parks. However diminutive their size, berries are of such...

Perfumed, sweet, succulent, cooling; a ripe melon can be one of the most delicious of fruits. Sylvia Lovegren untangles the melon's long and complex history and follows the journeys of the varied fruits known as melons from the sandy wastes of the...

For over a century, the banana has been rumoured to be everybody's favourite fruit. Quick and easy to eat, tasty and versatile in its culinary uses, the banana is a staple of many diets around the world. The banana's history, however, is more than simply...

Double-decker buses, bowler hats, and cricket may be synonymous with British culture, but when it comes to their cuisine, nothing comes to mind faster than fish and chips. Sprinkled with salt and vinegar and often accompanied by mushy peas, fish and...

This is a detailed history of rice, from its origin as a staple food in Asian and West African countries to its ubiquitous place in meals across the world today. It explores rice in society, literature, music, painting and...

This book explores the apple's history and the latest debates about the use of agrichemicals, the rise of organic and heirloom orchards, and the hopes and fears of genetic crop modification. Beautifully illustrated with...

'Did you keep a list of the words coined by Covid? Wayne Grady did! They're deftly woven into a journal/timeline, taking us through two years of surrealism and limbo.' - Margaret AtwoodThis exploration of the many new terms of...

A writer and anthropologist searches for wild foods - and reveals what we lose in a world where wildness itself is misunderstood, commodified, and hotly pursuedTwo centuries ago, nearly half the North American diet was found in the wild. Today, so-called...

A thought-provoking and provocative challenge to consumerism (with plenty of name-dropping and celebrity antics).Sassy and satirical, Shopomania is an economic, environmental and social study. This light-hearted, dark-souled dictionary of coined words,...

Toques, mittens and scarves are all associated with northern climates, but the quintessential garment of Canadian knitting is surely the bulky and distinctly patterned West Coast cardigan. In the early twentieth century, Indigenous woolworkers on...

Thewhite colonisers of Australia suffered from Alliumphobia, a fear ofgarlic. Local cooks didn't touch the stuff and it took centuries for that fearto lift. This food history of Australia shows we held onto British assumptionsabout...

'This is a book about Australian food, not the foods that European Australians cooked from ingredients they brought with them, but the flora and fauna that nourished the Aboriginal peoples for over 50,000 years. It is because European...

'...witty and packed with detail, this is an intercultural shot that should be heard around the world' - Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review'Bhutto carefully dissects the guts of our popular culture...essential to understand the soul of our...

Car Ma is artist and musician Alison Mosshart's first printed collection of paintings, photographs, short stories, and poetry. It is a book about cars, rock n' roll, and love. It's a book about America, performance, and life on the road. It's a book...

For the first time, step behind palace doors to unlock the little-known secrets behind the Queen's remarkable self-preservation and continued radiance. Extensively researched and delightfully revelatory, it's the story of how one strong queen can make...

A guide to choosing, completing, and sharing a 100-day creative project. There's a creative person inside every one of us! You don't have to consider yourself an artist to create and share fun or expressive work; sometimes all it takes is commitment...

Celebrate your favorite songs, performances, and music video moments with this official Britney Spears coloring book. From "...Baby One More Time" to the Las Vegas stage, there's no shortage of iconic Britney Spears moments. Now, color your way through...

The German Left and Aesthetic Politics examines the articulation of contending materialist aesthetic practices within the ideological fractures of the German Left between the Second and Third International. It is hinged on the major literary critical...

How was Istanbul, once the capital of the Ottoman Empire and now the financial heart of contemporary Turkey, provisioned in the early 19th century? Tracing how the sovereign's duty to provision the city and protect his subjects from hunger was gradually...

Featuring dozens of interviews with the cast and crew, fans of the franchise, film scholars, former and current cheerleaders, fellow filmmakers, and more.Gabrielle Union, Kirsten Dunst, and Eliza Dushku have all risen to fame since their performances in...

A nostalgia-packed, star-studded anthology featuring contributors such as Kristen Arnett, Yumi Sakugawa, Myriam Gurba, and others exploring the lasting impact of Ann M. Martin's beloved Baby-Sitters Club seriesIn 1986, the first-ever meeting of the...

From Kristen Doute, star of Bravo TV's international hit series Vanderpump Rules, and Michele Alexander, coauthor of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the basis for the hit film starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, comes the ultimate, hilarious...

When most people think of anime, they think of large-eyed adolescents fighting fearsome monsters (kaij). On the surface, Neon Genesis Evangelion is just the same, filled with destructive explosions and gigantic EVA missiles that can only be piloted by...

From Jeff Friesen, award-winning photographer and author of United States of LEGO, comes a hilarious new book of diorama photographs that uses LEGO bricks to spoof the famous work of the mysterious anonymous graffiti artist known as Banksy...

This is a book about ideas.Specifically, this is a book about the evolution of a certain set of ideas, and how these ideas have come to dominate every important discussion about race, gender, and identity today.Have you heard someone refer to language as...

Like no other book before it, this work delves into the deep, dark, and mysterious undertones hidden in Tinsel town's biggest films. Esoteric Hollywood is a game-changer in an arena of tabloid-populated titles. After years of scholarly research, Jay Dyer...

Nicknamed "the father of public relations," Edward Bernays (18911995) was a pioneer in the fields of propaganda and PR. Combining theories on crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical ideas of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, Bernays elucidated how...

In his 1983 classic The Poverty of Affluenceexamines the psychological underpinnings of our insatiable desire for growth, and endless quest for "more"-whether in jobs, relationships, or any other sphere of life-suggesting that our commitment to...

First published in 1993, The Ultimate Cigar Book has become a classic in its field, and is generally credited with having helped launch the current cigar smoking craze. It has been reprinted numerous times in the United States, and is now sold worldwide...

Photography has been featured on CNN, The Today Show, and Business InsiderWhat happens when the symbol of commerce crumbles?This collection of nearly two hundred stunning yet melancholic photos captures the decline of one of the biggest symbols of...

The very first tell-all snus encyclopedia of its kind! You don't have to light up to enjoy tobacco! Swedish snus has a unique position in the world and is continually being developed through a thorough choice of tobacco, well--tested flavorings, and high...

In this groundbreaking coloring book you'll meet boys who bake and hug; girls who build drum sets and fix stuff; children who are tender, intense, vulnerable, courageous, zany, and gentle. This coloring book is for them and everyone who has ever wanted...

Celebrating 50 years of The Most Magical Place on EarthSince its opening in October 1971, Walt Disney World has continued to expand and evolve as the most visited vacation resort in the world. What hasn't changed over five decades is the incomparable...

A nostalgic romp through modern NBA history as documented by basketball's most iconic and innovative magazine covers.Every magazine cover is the result of a series of intentional decisions. Cover Story shares the behind-the-scenes stories of these...

The Gory Guide to the Walking Dead While most people know what zombies look like, do they actually know how they act? What they do during their spare time? What their work ethic is? Probably not. Enter The Ultimate Book of Zombie Warfare and...

Part generational memoir and part cultural history of the sixties, Beatleness allows the reader to experience-again or for the first time-what it was like to grow up with the Beatles and shows the impact of "Beatleness" as an ever-evolving stimulus in...

Francoise Hardy is best known in Europe for originating the famed "Y-Y" sound in pop music which began a cultural scene in the early 1960s. Her teenage success grew as she became a much-photographed fashion model and actress. Adored for her shy beauty...

With the appearance of the demonic Christmas character Krampus in contemporary Hollywood movies, television shows, advertisements, and greeting cards, medieval folklore has now been revisited in American culture. Krampus-related events and parades occur...

Harley Flanagan provides a fascinating memoir: a homeless child prodigy and family friend of Andy Warhol and Allen Ginsberg, at a young age he became close to many stars of the early punk rock scene like Joe Strummer of The Clash and was taught to play...

Famous for its revolutionary aspects in musical, political, sexual identity and consumerist ideas, punk rock also has its lesser-known gangster ethos as well, explained here by players in the various punk gangs.The Los Angeles, Orange County, and South...

2016 IndieFab Honorable Mention in Popular Culture.Mel Gordon, author of Voluptuous Panic, the celebrated history about the sex culture of Weimar Berlin, returns with a stunningly illustrated look at Paris, The City of Pleasure, prior to and during...

The Secret Life of a Satanist steps behind the curtain with the founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan.What is contemporary Satanism, and why would one start a church dedicated to the Dark One? It wasn't a rebellion against an oppressive...

Riveting and inspiring first-person stories of how "taking a knee" triggered a political awakening among athletes of all ages and levels, from the celebrated sportswriter"With profiles of courage that leap of the page, Zirin uncovers a whole national...

As featured by The Daily Show, NPR, PBS, CBC, Time, VIBE, Entertainment Weekly and Well-Read Black GirlIncluded in Foreword Reviews Best Books of 2019, Entrepreneur magazine's Best Books of 2019 for Entrepreneurs and The Stack Podcast's 10 Favorite Reads...

An accessible compendium of the most important aspects of Japanese arts, culture and history, for quick reference or a longer, in-depth read, for actual and armchair travellers alike..This friendly guide offers concise but detailed demystifications of...

A rich banquet at the cutting edge of the arts, rooted in California's eclectic cultural gumbo, by one of America's most gifted critics, who died young in 2019."A perfect journalistic valediction from one of LA's finest commentators."-Richard...