Red: A History of the Redhead

I really enjoyed this book, it was very enlightening. I have always found the different shades of red hair rather lovely, I myself do not have red hair (although I have dyed my hair red once or twice) so growing up I never noticed that there was any stigma associated with red hair. I was floored to read that women in the Tudor period would use white lead to get that pale skin look, how horrifying it must have been for them to suffer the effects of its use. I would definitely recommend this book to all those who have or wish they had red hair.

Awesome book and required reading for all redheads. NOT better dead than red, fellow gingers! We kick brunette and blonde butt! Harvey gives us the science, history, and art history as well as sociology and pop culture. She examines the genetics and the biases from a variety of perspectives. And she ends the book with an intimate look at what it's like to attend the Dutch festival Redhead Days with 6000 other gingers. A riveting read.

The most surprising pleasure of the summer reading season is surely Red, Jacky Colliss Harvey's astonishing History of the Redhead. This exegesis of a well-known but under-explored species combines autobiography, anthropology, art history and oh-so-much else. Beautifully written and brilliantly observed, it draws you in from the first sentence. There are few subjects I could imagine myself less drawn to, and yet, after the first ten pages, I could not put it down. Hats off, Ms. Harvey.

Being a redhead, I was quite excited to read this book. What a letdown (really more a 2.5). A dry read. At times comes off in textbook-like fashion and, too often, a science textbook. At other times the author is trying too hard to sound "hip". The author also seems to have carried a real complex throughout her life about being a redhead. Too bad. She does make a claim that redheads in the U.S. aren't teased as vehemently as in other parts of the world (though I did endure some teasing because of my hair color), so maybe this explains it. I will say I always hated having red hair (I was convinced I was adopted at one point) until I was about 11 or 12 and found out that only about 4 percent of the world's population has red hair. From that point on I felt unique and embraced it. I wish the book had concentrated more on the positive aspects of having red hair than focusing so thoroughly on all the negative connotations. Yes, the negative must be explored to give a concise history, but cripes, explore all avenues.

It should be more surprising that so many books on redheads have been published through the years; however, I myself am intrigued by redheads for no reason that I can logically comprehend. Perhaps it is my Irish heritage (though there is no red hair in my family) or perhaps it is the comparative rarity of the color that captures my attention. Honestly, I don’t know. Still, I guess my fascination makes me a target reader for this book.

Though I can’t say I found anything surprising here, it is a pretty book that is easy to read and covers a lot of good ground. Of course, the most enduring theme is the fiery-tempered redhead, aggressive, sexual, and, often, bad. Judas as a redhead (unlikely as this is historically) and Mary Magdalene make an appearance, as well as countless other examples from real life and literature. As a longtime fan of British TV, I have also noticed the stereotypes of the “ginger” which is an odd thing in the twenty-first century. This prejudice is fading but Ms. Colliss Harvey discusses this and, as a redhead herself, brings in some of her personal experience of this.

All in all, this may not be a groundbreaking work but it is a fun one. Anyone who has ever felt the sting of redheaded stereotype or an attraction to the color will find something to enjoy here.

What's really remarkable about this book is how interesting it is for non-redheads. Red isn't just the story of how people came to have red hair, or how the gene itself spread, or where it spread, but how non-redheads have reacted to it: the Spanish inquisition, Parisian artists, Hollywood filmmakers, and the occasional Man-With-a-Thing-For-Redheads. It's the rare book that manages to weave together history, science, pop culture, and fine arts to discuss a topic that literally stares us in the face every day.

I was really looking forward to this book. The genetic information was good but I thought the rest of the book was lacking. I felt a lot of it was rambling, especially the last few pages. I felt quite a bit of what was covered was tangential (about artists' lives, etc.) in order to fill the pages. Overall the content is better found elsewhere.

I bought this for my daughter and then borrowed it and was just delighted and fascinated by the ease of writing and the amount of fascinating information about where my daughter's magnificent hair comes from. An incredible amount of information even if one has not a trace of red in one's genes. or head. Red hair is ancient and is found in clumps (sorry) throughout the world. In the present times, there's basically the Scandinavian /Celtic branch and the Eastern European/Jewish branch. Freckles and straight hair goes to the Celts; thick curls and just a sprinkling of freckles to the Jews. Evidently almost all of the ancient Thracians were red haired. 1,000-bc to 700 AD. Raised as fierce warriors, perhaps they and their hair genes died out due to their recreational habits: "Thracian drinking game: consisting of standing on a rock, with your head in a noose, One of your friends kicked the rock away and then the trick was to be quick enough with your Thracian short sword to slice through the rope before you throttled--a sort of Thracian Russian roulette."

They eventually were defeated, captured and used as slaves and the author thinks that's where all the bad rap about red-heads comes from. She cites the red headed Ronald McDonald and Bozo as examples.....

6,000 red heads from all over the world attend the annual Redhead Days Festival in Breda, Netherlands. Maybe my daughter and I will go next year! I hope they let me in, I do have a sheen in the sun.

History has always been one of my favorite subjects in school, but even more interesting are the little known facts and tidbits that are hidden in history of mankind. Red: A History of the Redhead held a special interest for me as a couple of the grandchildren have red hair and they are bright, intelligent and caring young adults now that do not have fiery tempers or any of the things expected from redheads. I enjoyed this book that traced the social and emotional aspects of people with red hair throughout history and some of the things that have been associated with red hair.

I want to thank Jacky Colliss Harvey, author and Goodreads First Reads Giveaway for my copy of Red: A History of the Redhead that I won in the Giveaway.

One of the best books I have read (heard actually) this year! Amazing! I was drawn to it because my mother had bright red hair. I was not disappointed at all in the book. Actually, I bought the hard cover as well, looking for some of the pictures painted of people with red hair. I recently went on a tour to Ireland which had a red headed tour guide who was wonderful! As I have read this book, now where ever I go I look at women's hair to see if they have red hair. It is fun and I have talked to some who attend our church and they are very nice, often having red haired children. Ms Harvey certainly did a good job and I am grateful.

I was really disappointed with this book, especially because it had such an interesting premises. The major problem with this book was just the lack of research which left large, glaringly obvious, gaps. She talks about red heads portrayed in Medieval art were either saintly females or villainous males, but completely ignores the hundreds of paintings of Jesus and other male saints depicted with red hair.
The section that really bothered me was when she talked about the myth that Cleopatra might have had red hair and how unlikely this was because of Egyptian heritage, when if fact, Cleopatra was from Greek descent and only ruled over Egypt because her ancestor, and founder of the Ptolemy dynasty, helped Alexander the Great conquer Egypt. That's something anyone who even bothered to read her Wikipedia page could have found out.
Then there was very little information of how red heads are viewed today beyond a few personal anecdotes from the author. There were no credible studies quoted or even a wider pool of people interviewed.
The one good thing I can say about this book is that she did an okay job of explaining the genetics behind red hair in an easy to understand way.
All in all, not worth your money. I'm just glad I bought it on my Kindle and was able to return it for a refund.

This book is very interesting and well though out and researched. It takes a way of thinking about people with red hair are different. It talks about why that is through out history and tells us how we are wrong. A great book. And I got it in the goodreads giveaway.

I LOVED this book. Jacky did an incredible amount of research and presented it beautifully.
I couldn't put it down! She has a great sense of humor and also brought many parallels between
the ancient, medieval and 19 century art and our contemporary times.

Hardcover book just arrived; haven't had a chance to read it yet but wanted to comment that it is obvious why the Hardcover is the least expensive option. The book is obviously a binding reject; it is printed on cheap paper, poorly bound and not properly trimmed.