![]() A tale of political and religious intrigue, piracy, science, the rise of industry, international economics, as well as the mystical, mythical reverence for the color scarlet. With A Perfect Red, she does for it what Mark Kurlansky in Salt did for that common commodity." Barbara Liss, Houston Chronicle But if Amy Butler Greenfield has her way, you'll finish her book with new respect for color, especially for red. "With insight into personal greed and folly as well as a detailed grasp of fact, Amy Butler Greenfield paints a broad historical panorama, never neglecting the intimate, eccentric, and often absurd human details." Amanda Heller, Boston Globe grippingly related." Times Literary Supplement with an understanding of the economic workings of empire. "Immensely informative, Greenfield commands her cochineals, yet tells her splendid story simply and with élan." Ross Leckie, The Times (UK) ![]() "Amy Butler Greenfield's study, 'A Perfect Red,' gives you a new respect for what you might have thought was just another color." Neil Genzlinger, NY Times a good introduction not only to the history of red, but of microscopes, Conquistadores, the eccentricities of Spanish kings, the thieves of early Seville." Victoria Finlay, author of Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox. "luently written and thoroughly researched. The benefit of her fascination is the reader's tour through a world we would never know, and deep understanding of the passions that drove it." Barbara Davenport, San Diego Union Tribune Greenfield is clearly fascinated by her material. "The book is a gem of accessible history. traversing a gallery containing native people and their oppressors, secretive dyers, kings, pirates, spies and chemists." John Eidinow, LA Times " delightful, rollicking history of cochineal. sprightly and charming." Diane Ackerman, Washington Post " superbly researched history of cochineal red, full of angles and tangents, curiosities and arcana. ![]() This radiantly captivating and formidable history of an exotic mystery will take its place with the best accounts of books on Europe and the New World." Judges’ citation, PEN/Martha Albrand Award "Her story of how cochineal became a prime monetary prize. Encompassing the history of natural philosophy and science, of art and textiles, of engineering and empire, A Perfect Red is a tale every bit as flamboyant as the color itself. With a cast of extravagant characters monarchs, buccaneers, artists, scientists, spies, even poets the mad race to crack the cochineal enigma and break Spain's monopoly lasted three hundred years. Was it plant or animal? Could it be stolen from Mexico and transplanted to their colonies? These questions confounded clever minds for centuries, but Spain’s rivals were determined to learn the answers. Deployed strategically in the Spanish holy war against Protestant Europe, Spain’s cochineal monopoly was worth a fortune, and English, French, and Dutch pirates were determined to have a piece of the action.īut in Europe, few fully understood the nature of cochineal. For those who knew its secrets, red was a source of wealth and power from ancient times onward especially cochineal, the source of nature's most potent red dye.įor centuries after the conquistador Hernán Cortés spotted cochineal in an Aztec marketplace and sent it on the high seas back to his Spanish king, this luminous luxury was a source of war and intrigue. The story of the quest for the perfect color red is an adventure into world history. Winner of the 2008 Veolia Prix du Livre Environnement ![]() Winner of the 2006 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction ![]()
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