Showing 1–12 of 13 resultsSorted by latest
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£11.99
Plunge into the intimate history of cosmetics, and discover how, for centuries, women have turned to make up as a rich source of creativity, community and resistance. The Renaissance was an era obsessed with appearances. And beauty culture from the time has left traces that give us a window into an overlooked realm of history – revealing everything from 16th-century women’s body anxieties to their sophisticated botanical and chemical knowledge. ‘How to be a Renaissance Woman’ allows us to glimpse the world of the female artists, artisans and businesswomen carving out space for themselves, as well as those who gained power and influence in the cut-throat world of the court. In a vivid exploration into women’s lives, Professor Jill Burke invites us to rediscover historical cosmetic recipes and unpack the origins of the beauty ideals that are still with us today.
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£10.99
Sarah Chaney takes us on an eye-opening and surprising journey into the history of science, revisiting the studies, landmark experiments and tests that proliferated from the early 19th century to find answers to the question: what’s normal? These include a census of hallucinations – and even a UK beauty map (which claimed the women in Aberdeen were ‘the most repellent’). On the way she exposes many of the hangovers that are still with us from these dubious endeavours, from IQ tests to the BMI. Interrogating how the notion and science of standardisation has shaped us all, as individuals and as a society, this book challenges why we ever thought that normal might be a desirable thing to be.
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£16.99
Do you recoil in arachnophobic horror at the sight of a spider – or twitch with nomophobia when you misplace your mobile phone? Do your book-buying habits verge on bibliomania? Perhaps you find yourself mired in indecision and uncertainty? (Would it be reassuring to give this a name: aboulomania?) Our phobias and manias are contradictory and multiple: deeply intimate, yet forged by the times we live in – the commonest form of anxiety disorder, but rarely given a formal diagnosis. Plunge into this rich, surprising and fascinating A-Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape, from pre-history to the present day, as award-winning author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and present, the psychological and social, the personal and the political.
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£12.99
More than any other conflict, the Cold War was fought on the battlefield of the human mind. And, nearly 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its legacy still endures – not only in our politics, but in our own thoughts, and fears. Drawing on a vast array of untapped archives and unseen sources, Martin Sixsmith vividly recreates the tensions and paranoia of the Cold War, framing it for the first time from a psychological perspective. Revisiting towering personalities like Khrushchev, Kennedy and Nixon, as well as the lives of the unknown millions who were caught up in the conflict, this is a gripping account of fear itself – and in today’s uncertain times, it is more resonant than ever.
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£25.00
The Greek and Roman body is often seen as flawless – cast from life in buff bronze and white marble, to sit upon a pedestal. But this, of course, is a lie. Here, classicist Caroline Vout reaches beyond texts and galleries to expose Greek and Roman bodies for what they truly were: anxious, ailing, imperfect, diverse, and responsible for a legacy as lasting as their statues. Taking us on a gruesome, thrilling journey, she taps into the questions that those in the Greek and Roman worlds asked about their bodies – where do we come from? What makes us different from gods and animals? What happens to our bodies, and the forces that govern them, when we die? Vout also reveals the surprising actions people often took to transform their bodies – from sophisticated surgery and contraception to body oils, cosmetics and early gym memberships.
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£8.99
In this brave and hilarious account of postnatal depression, Emma tells her story of despair and recovery. She tackles the biggest taboos around motherhood and mental health, from botched stitches and bleeding nipples to anger and shame. How does pregnancy adapt our brains? Is postnatal depression a natural reaction to the trauma of modern motherhood? And are people’s attitudes finally changing? Dazzling and vital, ‘After the Storm’ is a celebration of survival, holding out a hand to women everywhere.
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£8.99
Ten years ago, Kate Mosse began to help her heroic mother care for her beloved father, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. In this lyrical and humorous book, she reflects on more than a decade of multi-generational living and being an ‘extra pair of hands’, first for her parents and now for her wonderful 90-year-old mother-in-law. Interspersed with snapshots of the overlooked voices of carers of the past – from poems, diaries and folk remedies that have survived the centuries – Kate looks at the contemporary landscape of care in a world of slashed budgets and at the women bearing the brunt of austerity as they battle to hold families of all shapes and sizes together.
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£4.99
When it comes to illness, sometimes the end is just the beginning. Recovery and convalescence are words that exist at the periphery of our lives – until we are forced to contend with what they really mean. Here, GP and writer Gavin Francis explores how – and why – we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it. Characterised by Francis’s beautiful prose and his view of medicine as ‘the alliance of science and kindness’, ‘Recovery’ is a book about a journey that most of us never intend to make. Along the way, he unfolds a story of hope, transformation, and the everyday miracle of healing.
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£9.99
From playground taunts of ‘only sluts do it’ but ‘virgins are frigid’, to ladette culture, and the arrival of ‘ironic’ porn, via Debbie Harry, the Kardashians and the Catholic church – she looks at how this prejudicial messaging has played out in the past, and still surrounds us today. In this subversive essay, McBride asks – are women still damned if we do, damned if we don’t? How can we give our daughters (and sons) the unbounded futures we want for them? And, in this moment of global crisis, might our gift for juggling contradiction help us to find a way forward?
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£12.99
Ten years ago, Kate Mosse began to help her heroic mother care for her beloved father, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. In this lyrical and humorous book, she reflects on more than a decade of multi-generational living and being an ‘extra pair of hands’, first for her parents and now for her wonderful 90-year-old mother-in-law. Interspersed with snapshots of the overlooked voices of carers of the past – from poems, diaries and folk remedies that have survived the centuries – Kate looks at the contemporary landscape of care in a world of slashed budgets and at the women bearing the brunt of austerity as they battle to hold families of all shapes and sizes together.
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£6.99
Ours is the age of contagious anxiety. We feel overwhelmed by the events around us, by injustice, by suffering, by an endless feeling of crisis. So, how can we nurture the parts of ourselves that hope, trust and believe in something better? And how can we stay sane in this age of division? In this powerful, uplifting plea for conscious optimism, Booker Prize-nominated novelist and activist Elif Shafak draws on her own memories and delves into the power of stories to bring us together. In the process, she reveals how listening to each other can nurture democracy, empathy and our faith in a kinder and wiser future.
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£12.99
An intimate and urgent account of doctor burnout, ‘Breaking and Mending’ is a frank assessement of mental health from both sides of the doctor/patient divide.
