A Cultural History of Chemistry

Selected as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2023From prehistoric metal extraction to medieval alchemy to modern industry, chemistry has been central to our understanding and use of the physical world as well as to trade, warfare and medicine.

In its turn, chemistry has been shaped by changing technologies, institutions and cultural beliefs.

A Cultural History of Chemistry presents the first detailed and authoritative survey from antiquity to today, focusing on the West but integrating key developments in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Arabic-Islamic and Byzantine empires. Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes.

This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six.

The themes (and chapter titles) are: Theory and Concepts; Practice and Experiment; Sites and Technology; Culture and Knowledge; Society and Environment; Trade and Industry; Learning and Institutions; Art and Representation. The six volumes cover: 1 – Antiquity (3,000 BCE to 600 CE); 2 – Medieval Age (600 to 1500); 3 – Early Modern (1500 to 1700); 4 – Eighteenth Century (1700 to 1815); 5 – Nineteenth Century (1815 to 1914); 6 – Modern Age (1914 to the Present). Volume 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives v4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

Open access is funded by the European Research Council. The page extent for the pack is 1728pp. Each volume opens with an Introduction and concludes with Notes, Bibliography, and an Index. The Cultural Histories Series A Cultural History of Chemistry is part of The Cultural Histories Series.

Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully-searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com). A Cultural History of Chemistry is part of The Cultural Histories Series.

Titles are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library.

The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com . Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com .