The Colour of Time: A New History of the World, 1850-1960

Description

The Colour of Time spans more than a hundred years of world history from the reign of Queen Victoria and the US Civil War to the Cuban Missile Crisis and beginning of the Space Age. It charts the rise and fall of empires, the achievements of science, industry and the arts, the tragedies of war and the politics of peace, and the lives of men and women who made history. The book is a collaboration between a gifted Brazilian artist and a leading British historian. Marina Amaral has created 200 stunning images, using contemporary photographs as the basis for her full-colour digital renditions. Dan Jones has written a narrative that anchors each image in its context, and weaves them into a vivid account of the world that we live in today. A fusion of amazing pictures and well-chosen words, The Colour of Time offers a unique - and often beautiful - perspective on the past. This compact edition of The Colour of Time makes the perfect gift for anyone (and not just anyone interested in history).

Marina Amaral is a talented Brazilian artist who specializes in the colourization of historical photographs. Dan Jones is a historian and bestselling author of The Templars, Magna Carta and The Plantagenets.

A clever, deftly executed book... Marina Amaral has chosen 200 black-and-white photographs, taken between 1850 and 1960, and skilfully colourised them, which gives them new life, new relevance and new power... Dan Jones gives a nicely thoughtful commentary to it all' * Daily Mail, Coffee Table Books of the Year * Purists argue that colourising black and white photographs is sacrilege, but the world has always been in colour... Truth be told, monochrome is a contrivance. Human experience is always colourful' * The Times, Books of the Year * [The Colour of Time] does something simple yet extraordinary. It takes black-and-white photos of historic events and colours them in. The effect is transformative * Daily Telegraph * There is something of The Wizard of Oz about Marina Amaral's photographs. She whisks us from black-and-white Kansas to shimmering Technicolor Oz... When you see Amaral's coloured portraits, you think: phwoar!... She changes the way we see a period or a person' * Spectator * The effect of colour is far more transformative than you might imagine... [Amaral's] touched-up photographs look even more realistic, and closer to life, than a photograph taken yesterday... Extraordinary' * Mail on Sunday * What also elevates The Colour of Time above regular coffee table fare is the startling vivacity and impact of the photographs chosen, and the concise but focused and gripping texts by Jones, making the book a worthwhile cover-to-cover read as much as it serves as a showcase book to dip into at will * All About History * Spanning more than 100 years of world history, from Queen Victoria to the Cuban missile crisis, this book offers a fresh perspective on the past by transforming the black and white photographs that defined global events into full colour * BBC History * Illustrator Marina Amaral has digitally colourised 200 historic black-and-white photographs, making them look as though they were taken yesterday. Dan Jones explains the historical context of each startling image * Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year * I have long considered colourisation sacrilege... after reading this book, I've changed my mind' * The Times. * The most breathtakingly colourised black-and-white pictures ever * Daily Mail. * Both revelatory and familiar. Amaral's skills bring 19th- and early 20th-century photographic images to wholly unexpected and vivid life... Jones offers perceptive commentary, contextualising the events and people depicted with concise skill, meaning that this fine book is hugely readable' * Observer * Jones sketches the historical context with wry economy. Even familiar images take on a new dimension in colour * Daily Mirror * Stunning photos. The perfect gift for any historian * Bristol Life *