Jonathan Rees Livres

Photographing white single squares and rectangles found in urban areas, David Batchelor’s Found Monochromes project expands the artist’s interrogation of colour, skill and the cityscape.Since 1997, David Batchelor has been photographing single square and rectangle planes of uninterrupted white that he passes as he walks through London and places he visits. The images are informal and impromptu; shot from a uniform distance the white planes are seen on a diversity of brick walls, car doors, metal fences and more.Batchelor began this body of work after considering the history of the monochrome in painting, and the lack of skill associated with them in the work of Yves Klein and Ad Reinhardt, amongst others.Bringing together the largest group of photographs from this series, a conversation between the philosopher Jonathan Rée and the artist focuses on the importance of monochromes to ideas of modernity, artificiality and the city.

Focusing on the transformative era of industrialization in America, this book offers a detailed and analytical exploration of its various phases. Through a series of episodes, it captures the complexities and impacts of industrial growth, examining how it reshaped society, economy, and culture. The narrative blends descriptive storytelling with critical analysis, making it a valuable resource for understanding the nuances of America's industrial evolution.

In Witcraft Jonathan Rée offers compelling intellectual portraits of celebrated British and American philosophers such as Locke, Hume, Emerson, Mill and James. But he also does much more. He draws attention to the philosophical work of literary authors like William Hazlitt and George Eliot, and dozens of others now largely forgotten, while paying tribute to the hundreds of ordinary men and women who engaged with philosophy while getting on with the rest of their lives. Philosophers in Britain and America have often been regarded as narrow-minded and pedestrian compared to their counterparts in continental Europe: this lively and eventful book reveals them instead as colourful, diverse, inventive and cosmopolitan. Philosophy, in Rée's interpretation, turns out to be not the work of a few canonical old men, but of masses of ordinary people who have insisted on thinking for themselves, and reaching their own conclusions about religion, politics, art and everything else. 'We English men have wits', as Ralph Lever wrote in the sixteenth century. The history of philosophy will never look the same again

The book delves into the evolution of food preservation in America, highlighting the transition from natural ice harvesting to modern refrigeration technologies. Jonathan Rees examines the impact of these innovations on consumer habits and public health, showcasing how advancements in cooling methods have transformed the way we store and consume food. Through historical insights, the narrative reveals the societal reliance on refrigeration and its significance in daily life.

The wartime adventures of the legendary SOE agent Harry Ree, told in his own words

Before the Refrigerator is ideal for history of technology classes, food studies classes, or anyone interested in what daily life in the United States was like between 1880 and 1930.

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Have you ever thought seriously about your refrigerator? The box humming in the background actually displays who you are and the society in which you live. This book examines the past, present, and future of the electric household refrigerator with an eye towards preventing its users from ever taking it for granted again. No mere container for cold Cokes and celery stalks, the refrigerator is actually more like a mirror-and what it reflects is chilling indeed. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in the The Atlantic.

"Harvey Wiley spent most of his professional life advocating for food free of adulterants and preservatives. He was a proponent of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and he ran the Division (later Bureau) of Chemistry at the US Department of Agriculture from 1883 to 1912. He gained fame for the so-called Poison Squad experiments-in which Wiley's own employees at the USDA consumed food mixed with additives and were studied for their body chemistry. In this biography, Jonathan Rees examines Wiley's many and varied conflicts over food safety"--

The book delves into the management culture of the steelmaking industry, exploring its interplay with economic factors to influence labor policies. Key topics include the implementation of the twelve-hour workday, the concept of welfare capitalism, and the controversial use of workplace spies. Through this analysis, it sheds light on the complexities of labor relations and management strategies within the steel industry.

By working out what enables us to build that resilience, we can break it down into component parts to be learned and practised until they become a part of us. Jonathan gives you the framework to build and hone your resilience and helps you to survive in this pressure-cooker environment.