Bollywood’s India

"Bollywood’s India offers an interesting read for observing changes in India through Bollywood films with themes such as unity, diversity, religion, emotions and homeworld . . . This book is highly recommended to those who are interested in exploring modern India and her Indianness through Hindi films, but it also gives a background to the changes that have emerged over the years to build what India is today and alludes to what it might become tomorrow." - South Asian Popular Culture
"I was gripped by Sandy Nairne’s matter-of-fact but hair-raising account of the efforts to reclaim the two Turners" - Philip Hensher, Books of the Year, The Spectator
"This book is the first and so far the only monographic exploration of the historically omnipresent and continuing tension between an externally imposed regionalism and three internally generated national identities in which the Baltic concept is perhaps useful in times of crises but not descriptive of their sense of self it is also the first to explore in great detail the difference between substance and image in the region . . . very satisfying to read . . . [a] well-written and informative essay" - History
"It could hardly be more timely, and its wonderful material is bound to provoke . . . reflection." - The Independent
"A brilliant analysis of the ambiguous boundaries that separate and bind humans and animals" - The Irish Times
"[a] smart little monograph that ranges across a wide variety of related topics, including the ethics of using animals in entertainment . . . Eccentric, but nonetheless intriguing" - Empire
"Bird has benefited from extensive archival research and he illuminates Tarkovsky’s career in sharp detail . . . His range of references, from classical Russian literature and philosophy to contemporary video art, is wide and refreshing, often triggering new reactions to films that are in danger of passive veneration . . . this is a richly argued and referenced case for Tarkovsky as heir to the symbolists’ quest for spiritual enlightenment." - Sight and Sound
"Pezeu-Massabuau artfully pulls on the thread of discomfort as a unifying them for understanding everything from individualism to the importance of uncomfortable architecture in Japan . . . his critique of a contemporary culture of comfort and his practical considerations on how to fit discomfort into a life are interesting and provocative. Recommended." - Choice
"Fear is a powerful emotion. It can save lives. But it also robs us of our freedom and undermines that essential social glue: trust. Bertrand Russell once said that to conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Svendsen agrees. In this brief yet wide-ranging and insightful book, he argues convincingly that we need to replace the risk society with a culture of hope and trust." - The Guardian
"[a] sparkling work . . . what we find in Connors book is a series of historical, sociological, metaphysical and existential reflections on intriguing but often neglected aspects of sport . . . Connor does not, it seems, try to persuade us of any grand thesis about sport, yet he rarely fails to illuminate . . . there is plenty here to fascinate." - TLS
"When an investigation into boredom is done well, as it is in A Philosophy of Boredom . . . it is positively gripping." - Times Literary Supplement
"[An] authoritative account . . . if you're intrigued with writing’s past, Fischer’s book is well worth a read . . . a brilliant book." - New Scientist
"The WikiLeaks saga may have drawn us into new, and scary, galaxies of cyberspace, but this survey of the online story so far offers a handy catch-up that will prove a boon to geeks and dabblers alike." - I (The Independent)
"This book is a bold and thought-provoking work that should be read by all serious students of Myanmar. It offers a major reinterpretation of Myanmar history, in part by relating broad historical trends to more recent developments." - Dr Andrew Selth, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
"An ambitious, innovative and remarkably wide-ranging survey by a historian of formidable breadth." - BBC History Magazine
".the sheer catholicism of its sources is thought-provoking, allowing the reader to engage with the multitudinous facets that are involved in the construction of national identity . . . a lively contribution on an urgent issue." - H-net reviews
"Jeremy Black has done it again: elegant, lucid and compellingly interesting . . . For anyone interested in our current predicament, this book is a must." - Rt Hon. Oliver Letwin MP
"Paul Mattick says the recession isn't just a financial crisis it manifests a truth about the socioeconomic system in which we live." - Irish Times
"Shortlisted for the Sir Banister Fletcher Award 2008" - Award
"This excellent addition to the Critical Lives series is, says Paul Bishop, a biography of Jung in books In particular, Bishop locates Jung in a philosophical and literary context, demonstrating how deeply and profoundly Jung belongs to a broader stream of thought in German culture. For Jung, his library was his laboratory and so this approach is especially valuable in revealing the significance of analytical psychology as a cultural project . . . a wonderfully rich intellectual biography." - The Guardian
"According to a brief but brilliant new book by the British sociologist Chris Rojek, democracy (or capitalism) simply cannot operate properly without celebrity . . . Rojeks most original insight is that people have been wanting this ever since the 18th century. He brilliantly rereads Samuel Smiless Self-Help as a manual on the virtues of the celebrity." - The Independent
"captures with astonishing detail the sounds, smells, street dynamics and customs of the city . . . [Golia's] book offers an immersive experience that will prepare you for Cairo’s intensity and bustle." - Yasmine El-Rashidi, New York Times
"Keith Lilleys excellent new book takes as its theme the idea of the city as it was played out, performed and remediated in medieval culture . . . The book, like the urban forms it describes, is impressively far-reaching, beautifully designed and richly illustrated." - Urban History
"Written in a clear and accessible style . . . It is also exceptionally well-illustrated . . . In extending their analysis to extra-filmic discourses, Dwyer and Patel show how movie imagery permeates into the wider culture and society." - Film International
"a gentle, firm, lucid tracking-down of the greatest ever movie essayist . . . There could not be a better introduction." - David Thomson, The Week
"John Rennie Short has trawled through many dusty travel journals and pored over his share of early maps in order to reconstruct this fascinating cultural collision. His book ranges widely, from the cartographic artefacts of pre-Columbian civilisation (maps insribed on birch bark or carved into walrus tusks) to the 19th century exploration of Australia's interior . . . consistently entertaining and even-handed." - Geographical Magazine
"As a study of the relationship between contemporary Chinese film and the visual legacy of Chinese arts and culture, this book is superb." - Journal of Asian Studies
"Winner of RIBA President's Award 2013" - Award
"The many illustrations (often old ads) are fascinating and often funny (1980s businessmen tripping off to work with massive "portable" computers), or reveal obscure aesthetic precedents (1983s Orb computer looks suspiciously like the first iMac)." - The Guardian
"For those who want an up-to-date bio that’s swift and savvy, there is Linda Simon’s Chanel. It’s a slim volume, but even here we get details we don’t get elsewhere, including a full chapter on the musical Coco, which opened on Broadway in 1969 starring Katharine Hepburn (tellingly, Chanel’s first choice for the role was the much younger Hepburn: Audrey)." - Wall Street Journal
"Bourke evokes a real tenderness and understanding for the men who were pushed to breaking point and beyond . . . in a book well illustrated with contemporary photographs and sketches from men's letters and diaries . . . a fine work" - Times Higher Education Supplement
"Whiteleys look at design in the 1990s is an account of how the design industry, caught up in its own self-image for the past decade, needs to reinvent itself and focus again on its social role. This means taking greater account of green and feminist issues and creating a new type of socially responsible design. Surely a thesis of relevance to architects." - RIBA Journal
"Dark Places is a valuable work for film scholars focused on the horror genre or otherwise. In considering the widest possible legacy for the haunted house on screen and by bringing theoretical and multi-disciplinary sophistication to bear on such an unlikely topic Curtis has fashioned a noteworthy exploration of one of cinema's unsung icons." - Southwest Journal of Cultures
"elegiac . . . a wonderful close analysis. Despite the melancholy in cinemas encounters with a fleeting past, the prospects opened up by filmic slowness are, for Mulvey, productive of optimism." - Times Higher Education Supplement
"Here, dams take centre stage as their design, construction, beauty, failures and environmental consequences are analysed. Building Design" - Building Design
"Sanda Miller has been working on Constantin Brancusi since the 1970s, and her latest contribution to the literature on one of the twentieth-centurys greatest sculptors is a detailed and well-researched biography. A new body of archival material became available to Brancusi scholars in 2001 . . . Such major gifts to art historians require careful unpacking, and Miller has done an excellent job of digging deeply and thoroughly into hundreds of documents and photographs. The resultant book is centred on primary source material, dispelling long-held myths surrounding Brancusi and attaining perhaps as authentic a portrayal of his life and work as will ever be possible." - Slavonic and East European Review
"This is an extraordinary volume. While concentrating on contemporary art in Brazil, and attending to its myriad historical, political, social and aesthetic ramifications, Today is Always Yesterday combines Michael Asbury's characteristic critical, objective acumen with an "insider" view of Brazilian culture. Furthermore, the author presents us with much more than another book on the contemporary scene: he gives an in-depth history of Brazilian art in all of its complexity, from the Portuguese era to the post-Bolsonaro, Lula-Redux period of today. Anyone even marginally interested in the dizzyingly complex nature of Brazilian creativity will be more than pleased with Asbury's panoramic contribution." - Edward J. Sullivan, Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the History of Art, New York University
"The great strength of this book is that it helps the reader to see beyond the simplistic accounts of such aspects, and to understand the wider contexts that explain the Revolutions survival. The insight and detail offered here reflect a work that is the product of a sustained scholarly investigation of Cuba. Now professor of Latin American history at the University of Nottingham, Kapcia has been studying Cuba, from outside and from within, for four of the Revolutions five decades of fluctuating fortunes . . . Among the approaching anniversary literature, students of Cuba are unlikely to find a more thoughtful or well-informed analysis of half a century of revolutionary change than Kapcia provides in this book." - Times Higher Education
"packed with interesting stuff" - The Sunday Times
"A welcome reassessment of Satie that places him at the hub of radical events." - Classic FM Magazine
"There are lots of illustrations of early technological advances, which always look endearingly quaint. But the outstanding characteristic, in a field where pretentious obfuscation often seems obligatory, is that Gere can not only string a sentence together, but also uses those sentences to produce cogent and interesting arguments. He concludes that our digital culture has been built from elements including: Cold War defence technologies avant-garde art practice counter-cultural techno-utopianism Post-Modernist critical theory new wave subcultural style . . ." - Architects Journal
"Readers of Elephant may be surprised at the huge amount of fascinating history, biology, and generally little-known information that can be packed into such a small book. But this is not unusual for the Reaktion series of monographs on animals, many of which, including this one, are surely destined to become classics. Elephant excels in presenting a masterly combination of historical and literary knowledge about elephants with up-to-date facts and figures on the efforts of conservationists to prevent the decline and probable extinction of the living species in Africa and Asia." - Anthrozoös
"An interesting, well-informed, critical and comparative overview of contemporary modernisation in East Asian cities . . . A strength of the book is the examination of architectural style and building form. A real sense of cityscape is provided via the accounts of pencil buildings in Hong Kong and the verticality of living . . . This book should be a valuable library reference source . . . The book's content is up-to-date and detailed . . . the numerous black and white photographic illustrations are excellent." - Geography
"Brauns meticulous study is rich in detail" - Guardian
"Mienke Simon Thomas engrossing account in this book implies the current lack of design focus reflects a wider malaise a sense of drift from a clear purpose. Her survey and insights give much for thought about that doughty small country across the sea with which we British have such a particular affinity." - Architects Journal
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