Showing results for "William" in Anthropology

‘Will Storr is one of our best journalists of ideas … The Status Game might be his best yet’ James Marriott, Books of the Year, The Times What drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave, and misbehave, in groups?...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘A radical book that speaks out accessibly’ BONO ‘Indispensable … This is the essential handbook’ CHRISTINE LAGARDE ‘A remarkably good read’ GILLIAN TETT, Financial Times ‘A landmark achievement’ WILL HUTTON, Observer This is a pivotal moment in our...

'The twenty-first century’s counterpart to Hobbes’s Leviathan.’ EMMANUELE COCCIA What has happened to the nation-state? From a prizewinning writer, After Nations offers a sweeping history of this most unquestioned of modern structures and a bold speculation about its future. Until recently...

From the food we eat, the water we drink to the air we breathe, everything these days seems capable of killing us. Recently we have seen an unprecedented number of deaths due to medications for diseases that may not even exist, obscure cancers caused by our modern devices, and brutal police...

'A writer of genius' - William Dalrymple Can anyone really own a culture? This magnificent account argues that the story of global civilisations is one of mixing, sharing, and borrowing. It shows how art forms have crisscrossed continents over centuries to produce masterpieces. From Nefertiti's...

In 1881, a writer in the Saturday Review called tattooing ‘an art without a history’. ‘No-one’, it went on, ‘has made it the business of his life to study the development of tattooing.’ Until now. Painted People is a beguiling and intimate look at an untold history of humanity. The...

From the Garden of Eden to Gethsemane, from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the pleasure gardens of Versailles, from the Zen gardens of Kyoto to the landscapes of Capability Brown and New York's High Line, the garden has always been far more than somewhere to grow things. It is where humanity...

Human olfaction – the sense of smell – enables us to appreciate food and drink, it warns us of dangers and it makes our environments more enjoyable. However, olfaction is one of our least explored sensory systems. Until now. Smells and scents are the colour that enrich our experience of life...

What makes the English English? Is it their eccentricity, their passionate love (or, indeed, hatred) of Marmite – or is it something less easily defined? Beginning at the top of a muddy Gloucestershire slope at the Coopers Hill cheese-rolling contest and traversing a landscape of lawns and...

A groundbreaking new perspective on catastrophes throughout human history, with vital lessons for our future 'This book upended my understanding of the ancient world' Zoë Schlanger, author of The Light Eaters 'Lizzie Wade is an exceptional journalist and a master storyteller' Ed Yong, author of...

In 1144 the mutilated body of William of Norwich, a young apprentice leatherworker, was found abandoned outside the city's walls. The boy bore disturbing signs of torture, and a story spread that it was a ritual murder, performed by Jews, in imitation of the Crucifixion as a mockery of Christianity. The outline of William's tale eventually gained currency far beyond Norwich, and the idea that Jews engaged in ritual murder became firmly rooted in the European imagination.

The Dawn of War, a new William Collins book, full description to follow when available...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE PRIZE 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE NEUMANN PRIZE 2025 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COUNT? WHY ARE HUMANS THE ONLY SPECIES ON EARTH THAT CAN DO IT? WHERE DID COUNTING COME FROM? HOW HAS IT SHAPED SOCIETIES ALONG THE WAY? AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?...

An essential read for anyone who has encountered a crisis of confidence. Where does self-confidence come from? How does it work? Why are some people more confident than others? On the surface, these seem like simple questions – but answers can feel hard to come by when we need them most. In...

'Brilliantly thought-provoking' MARK GALEOTTI, author of Homo Criminalis 'Propulsive and urgent … a panoramic exploration of our world' MARTHA SPURRIER What would you give up to feel safe? The security industry has captured our politics and our private lives. From rogue states to smart...

A provocative look at how and what Americans eat and why—a flavorful blend of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Salt Sugar Fat, and Freakonomics that reveals how the way we live shapes the way we eat. Food writer and Culinary Institute of America program director Sophie Egan takes readers on an...

Join the art critic Ben Eastham on a private tour of an extraordinary museum. Let him walk you through a building constructed from memory and filled with a series of bewildering art works, while he delivers a guide comprised of personal experience, professional expertise and sympathy. In this...