What We Are Reading Today: Pink: The History of a Color

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Updated 20 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Pink: The History of a Color

Author: Michel Pastoureau 

Pink has such powerful associations today that it’s hard to imagine the color could ever have meant anything different. But it’s only since the introduction of the Barbie doll in 1959 that pink has become decisively feminized.

Indeed, in the 18th century, pink was frequently masculine, and the color has signified many things beyond gender over the course of its long history.

In this richly illustrated book, Michel Pastoureau, a celebrated authority on the history of colors, presents a fascinating visual, social, and cultural history of pink in the West, from antiquity to today.