Blue, the history of a color by Michel Pastoureau

Review by Mihai Andrei for ZME Science:

The truth is that Blue, like some of Pastoureau’s books (which are, you’ve guessed it, about other colors), is a new way of looking at history. We look at history through the lens of a country, or a group of people, but what if we looked through the lens of a color? We take colors for granted today because we’re so spoiled with choice. 

The production of color was also strictly regulated. It’s not like you could just go and produce whatever color or dye you wanted. If you wanted to sell it, you needed a license, and a license wasn’t easy to obtain.

For the longest time, blue was the renegade of colors, ignored or shunned, and yet it’s now the world’s favorite color, according to almost all surveys.

see also:

• Red: The History of a Color 
• Green: The History of a Color 
• Black: The History of a Color