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A captivating history of red hair through the ages, drawing on science, religion, politics, literature and art.

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A New York Times bestseller, Red is the first book to explore the history of red hair and red-headedness throughout the world.

With an obsessive fascination that is as contagious as it is compelling, Jacky Colliss Harvey explores red hair in the ancient world, the prejudice manifested against redheads across medieval Europe, and red hair during the Renaissance as both an indicator of Jewishness and the height of fashion in Protestant England, thanks to Elizabeth I.

Colliss Harvey also examines depictions of red hair in art and literature, looks at modern medicine and the genetic decoding of redheads, and considers red hair in contemporary culture, from advertising to ´gingerism´ and bullying.

More than just a book for redheads, Red is a fascinating social and cultural celebration of a rich and mysterious genetic quirk.

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Authoritative and beautifully illustrated, Red is a captivating read, whatever your natural hair colour. Daily Mail

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Jacky Colliss Harvey is a writer and editor. She studied English at Cambridge University and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She has worked in museum publishing for the last twenty years and is a commentator and reviewer who speaks in both the UK and abroad on the arts and popular culture. Her red hair has also found her an alternative career as a life model and a film extra playing everything from a society lady in Atonement to a Parisian whore in Bel-Ami. She lives in London.

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