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Distributed for Reaktion Books

Blood Rush

The Dark History of a Vital Fluid

Translated by Andy Brown

Distributed for Reaktion Books

Blood Rush

The Dark History of a Vital Fluid

Translated by Andy Brown
As a young man, Jan Verplaetse saw a hare suspended from a meat hook, skinned and gutted. What struck him so forcefully at the time was not the animal itself, but the blood gently dripping from its mouth. His reaction prompted the start of a quest he undertakes in this book: to investigate our fascination with blood, the most vital of fluids.
 
Blood Rush shows how, throughout history, blood has had the capacity to intoxicate us, to the point that we lose ourselves, whether in violence, through hunting, fighting, or killing, or in the vicarious thrill of watching sporting events, horror films, or video games. Are these feelings physical, or in our imagination? Where does the magic of blood come from? In his deeply researched and provocative narrative, Verplaetse moves from antiquity to the present, from magic to experimental psychology, from philosophy to religion and scientific discoveries, to demonstrate why blood at once attracts and repels us.

320 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 | © 2020

Biography and Letters

History:


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Reviews

“Intricate, poetic, disturbing, and indefatigably intense, Blood Rush is unique in its scope. Verplaetse’s enthusiasm for his subject transforms the text into far more than an eccentric history; through it, the book becomes a history of our turbulent, passionate, and fearful relationship with the very principle of life itself.”

Antonella Gambotto-Burke | Australian

“Is ‘blood lust’—the idea that coming into contact with blood can lead to an awakening of a hidden, insatiable desire to spill more—a real experience? What started the superstition that menstrual blood was toxic, and why can’t scientists prove this isn’t the case, even today? In Blood Rush, moral philosopher Verplaetse writes an account of our relationship with life’s vital liquid throughout history. From the pagan ritual of sacrifice to the blood horror written into great works of literature such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Blood Rush weaves an engaging narrative with science, technology, culture, and art. Verplaetse even anticipates the bloodless slaughterhouses of the future. Where will our blood lead us next?”

BBC Science Focus

“As one whose life—due to hereditary hemochromatosis—revolves around the monitoring and regular letting of my own blood, I’ve developed quite an interest in it over recent years. So when word of Verplaetse’s new book . . . reached me, promising to delve into not just the physical, but also the philosophical and sociological aspects as well of this fluid we all share, I knew it was a book I needed to read. . . . I am absolutely enthralled by the richness of Verplaetse’s explanations and analyses of a wide range of the ways we humans have understood, sacralized, feared, and used blood down through the ages.”

Johannes E. Riutta | Well-read Naturalist

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: Blood Magic
Blood Mist
Sacrificial Blood
Evil Blood
Red Urine

Part Two: Blood Thirst
Haemothymia
Wild Origins
Chemosignals

Part Three: Blood Aesthetics
Blood Horror
Sublime Blood
Bloodless

References
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index

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