The Cultural Histories Series

The Cultural Histories are comprehensive surveys of the social and cultural construction of specific subjects across six historical periods:

• Antiquity
• The Medieval Age
• The Renaissance
• The Enlightenment
• The Age of Empire
• The Modern Age

Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters so that readers may gain a broad understanding of a period by reading an entire volume, or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Generously illustrated, each six-volume set combines to present an authoritative overview of its subject throughout history.

Topics currently available as part of Bloomsbury Cultural History

Bloomsbury Cultural History is comprised of yearly collections. Please see below for what each collection contains.

2017-18 (Core) Collection:

• Animals – General Editor: Linda Kalof
• The Human Body – General Editors: Linda Kalof, William Bynum
• Childhood and Family – General Editors: Elizabeth Foyster, James Marten
• Sexuality – General Editor: Julie Peakman
• Gardens – General Editors: Michael Leslie, John Dixon Hunt
• Women – General Editor: Linda Kalof
• Food – General Editors: Fabio Parasecoli, Peter Scholliers
• The Senses – General Editor: Constance Classen
• Dress and Fashion – General Editor: Susan J. Vincent
• Theatre – General Editors: Christopher Balme and Tracy C. Davis  

2018-19 Collection:

• Work – General Editors: Deborah Simonton and Anne Montenach 
• Law – General Editor: Gary Watt
• Hair – General Editor: Geraldine Biddle-Perry
• Western Empires – General Editor: Antoinette Burton

2019-20 Collection:

• Disability – General Editor: David Bolt, Robert McRuer
• Emotions – General Editors: Susan Broomhall, Jane W. Davidson, Andrew Lynch 
• Marriage – General Editor: Joanne M. Ferraro
• Money – General Editor: Bill Maurer
• Tragedy – General Editor: Rebecca Bushnell

2020-21 Collection:

• Comedy – General Editors: Andrew McConnell Stott, Eric Weitz
• Education – General Editor: Gary McCulloch
• Home – General Editor: Amanda Flather
• Memory – General Editor: Stefan Berger, Jeffrey K. Olick
• Peace – General Editor: Ronald Edsforth

2021-22 Collection:

• Color – General Editors: Carole P. Biggam, Kirsten Wolf
• Democracy – General Editor: Eugenio F. Biagini
• Medicine – General Editor: Roger Cooter
• Objects – General Editor: Dan Hicks, William Whyte
• Sea – General Editor: Wray Vamplew, John McClelland, Mark Dyreson
• Sport – General Editor: Margaret Cohen

2022-23 Collection:

• Race – General Editor: Marius Turda
• Genocide – General Editor: Paul R. Bartrop
• Fairy Tales – General Editor: Anne E. Duggan
• Chemistry – General Editors: Peter J. T. Morris, Alan Rocke
• Ideas – General Editors: Sophia Rosenfeld, Peter T. Struck
• Furniture – General Editor: Christina M. Anderson
• Plants – General Editors: Annette Giesecke, David Mabberley
• Shopping – General Editor: Jon Stobart

2023-24 Collection:

• Western Music – General Editors: David R M Irving, Alexander Rehding
• Youth – General Editors: Stephanie Olsen, Heidi Morrison
• Death – General Editor: Douglas Davies
• Insects – General Editor: Gene Kritsky

Download the full title list

eBook Collection

Bloomsbury Cultural History features over 100 ebooks in social and cultural history with a wide-ranging coverage of topics, periods and cultures. Featuring books from leading scholars such as Susan Amussen, Christopher Breward, Geoff Eley, Karen Hagemann, Elizabeth Shove, Carolyn Strange, Frank Trentmann, and David Underdown, these books are fully indexed and cross-searchable by keyword using our custom taxonomy.

Bloomsbury Cultural History is comprised of yearly collections. Please see the title list for which ebooks are included in each collection.

Image Collections

Bloomsbury Cultural History offers high resolution images from the Wellcome Collection in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Spanning all stages of life from the cradle to the grave, with topics as diverse as bathing, cosmetics, political protest and witchcraft, these images give colour and depth to the study of the past.

Timeline

Bloomsbury Cultural History features an interactive timeline of over 500 historical events, from antiquity to the present day, as chronicled in the Cultural History series. Users can click on the images and colored pins to discover book chapters and object pages, related to notable events in politics, society, the arts and science.

Timeline author: Matthew

Timeline updated by: Grace Whorrall-Campbell