Robin: (Animal)

A tuneful natural and cultural history of this globally renowned songbird. The robin is a small bird with a distinctive ruddy breast, at once a national treasure and a bird with a global reputation. In this superbly illustrated account, Helen F. Wilson looks at many aspects of the cherished robin, from its status as a harbinger of seasonal change and icon of Christmas, to its place in fairy tales, environmental campaigns and scientific discovery. In moving between cultural and natural histories, Robin asks wide-ranging questions: how did the robin's name travel the world? Why is the robin so melancholy? Who was Cock Robin? And how has the history of the colour red shaped the robin's ambivalent associations and unusual origin stories?

About the Author :
Helen F. Wilson is an associate professor of human geography at Durham University. She has published widely within social and cultural geography and lives in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Review :
Everyone's favourite garden bird is celebrated and explored in this wide-ranging, superbly illustrated volume. Taking in both natural and cultural histoies, Robin addresses questions including why the bird's name has travelled around the world and why it has a reputation for melancholy. The latest (103rd) instalment in Reaktion’s admirable Animal series brings us every angle on a familiar songbird . . . Helen F Wilson’s wide-ranging study of Erithacus rubecula and its allies . . . Wilson moves readily between ornithology and ‘culture’, never losing sight of the perpetual dissonance between the output of the robin industry . . . As Helen F. Wilson shows, this is not a bird that lives ‘alongside’ but among us, in our books and songs and TV ads as well as our woods and gardens. As part of the Reaktion Books Animal series, Helen F. Wilson brings together the various ways that Robins have permeated our culture, whether in books, folk stories, newspaper stories, adverts or artwork . . . This is all underpinned by knowledge and research on the actual bird, showing how much of the folklore around Robins is from attempts to understand them . . . If you are interested in the cultural history of birds then this is a small but rich book for you. A harbinger of spring with all it signifies and an augury of death and other symbols of winter, robins have, for generations, influenced art, religion, poetry, and literature. Wilson magnificently weaves the history of the robin’s cultural influences with facts about the bird’s biology, migratory patterns, habits, and behavior . . . Loaded with paintings, photographs, and literary references in classics like The Secret Garden, Robin reinforces the bird’s significance through time . . . This is an exceptional work for all bird enthusiasts. Wilson's debut book, Robin, offers an account of this bird, describing its place in fairy tales, environmental campaigns, and scientific discoveries alongside some truly beautiful illustrations . . . Robin is a fascinating read and Wilson asks some interesting and wide-ranging questions: how did the robin's name travel the world? Why is the robin so melancholy? Who was Cock Robin? And how has the history of the colour red shaped the robin's ambivalent associations and unusual origin stories? Wilson ranges delightfully over some other robin lore that would not have occurred to me even to look for. [Wilson] has written a new book on the robin and its remarkable presence across folklore, religion, culture, painting, literature, poetry, music, Christmas and even the nicknames of a clutch of football teams. In Robin, Helen Wilson dives deep into the historical confluence of human culture and the European robin . . . The majority of the text is focused on the history of the European robin in a human context, including literature, religion, and pop culture . . . this book might be right up your street if you are an anglophile and appreciate Victorian history.