John Harvey's The Story of Black is not simply the history of a colour, it deftly unpicks the social, political, aesthetic and sexual nuances of black throughout the ages, unearthing the secrets behind it's continuing power to fascinate, compel and divide.

This book explores the ambiguous relationship the world's cultures have had with this often self-contradictory colour, examining how black has been used as a tool and a metaphor.

'A richly informative treat, with curiosities culled from a very wide range of sources, and written with unostentatious elegance ... In this book [Harvey] casts his net wide, taking his story as far back as prehistory and across areas of interest that seldom come together within the same covers: art history, religion (particularly Christianity and Islam), anthropology, literature, fashion, heraldry, geology and politics ... This is a book to instruct and delight.' Literary Review.