Description:
In this major new book Robert Muchembled restores smell to its rightful place as one of our most important senses and examines the transformation of smells in the West from the Renaissance to the beginning of the 19th century.
Review Quotes:
"Mr. Muchembled's fine-grained and evocative research shows how eloquent smell can be in helping us understand the past."
The Wall Street Journal
"Muchembled reminds us that the variables of time and place may defy a truly shared language. What we smell depends on what's in vogue and what's valued--on what cultural forces happen to be swirling in the air."
The New Yorker
"In this fascinating study, with unexpected twists and turns, Robert Muchembled explores the opaque topic of smell as if he were discovering a new continent that is as rich as it is mysterious."
Historia
"A rigorous, rich and lively book."
Les Cahiers de Science & Vie
"Smells is part scholarly treatise, part fascinating popular history, dashed through with a soupçon of wit."
Foreword Reviews
Peter Burke, University of Cambridge
"Robert Muchembled's new history is full of disgusting, delicious details... If you've ever wondered how living without modern technologies of sanitation might have shaped the surrounding culture, this book is for you."
Slate
"Lively"
London Review of Books
"delightful carnival of olfaction"
The Spectator
"Smells's mélange of the scholarly with the scatalogical makes for a dazzling, lusty romp through European history."
Foreword Reviews
"An illuminating piece of social history."
Fortean Times
'Book of the Week' in The Daily Mail
"Captivating... Elegantly wicked and meticulous in its execution"
The Australian
"engrossing"
Frieze