The Republic of Color
Science, Perception, and the Making of Modern America
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction / Cloven Tongues of Fire
Chapter One / Modern Chromatics: Ogden Rood and the Wrong-Workings of the Eye
Chapter Two / From Chemistry to Phanerochemistry: Charles Sanders Peirce and the Semiotic of Color
Chapter Three / Pathologies of Perception: Benjamin Joy Jeffries and the Invention of Color Blindness
Chapter Four / Colors and Cultures: Evolution, Biology, and Society
Chapter Five / The Pragmatic Physiology of Color Vision: Christine Ladd-Franklin and the “Evolutionary Theory” of Color
Chapter Six / Small Lies for Big Truths: Standards, Values, and Color Terms
Chapter Seven / The Logical and the Genetic: Bodies, Work, and Formal Color Notations
Conclusion / Talking about Color
Chapter One / Modern Chromatics: Ogden Rood and the Wrong-Workings of the Eye
Chapter Two / From Chemistry to Phanerochemistry: Charles Sanders Peirce and the Semiotic of Color
Chapter Three / Pathologies of Perception: Benjamin Joy Jeffries and the Invention of Color Blindness
Chapter Four / Colors and Cultures: Evolution, Biology, and Society
Chapter Five / The Pragmatic Physiology of Color Vision: Christine Ladd-Franklin and the “Evolutionary Theory” of Color
Chapter Six / Small Lies for Big Truths: Standards, Values, and Color Terms
Chapter Seven / The Logical and the Genetic: Bodies, Work, and Formal Color Notations
Conclusion / Talking about Color
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
Bibliography
Index
Review Quotes
Science
“An intriguing look at the history of and current way we conceive of color. . . . This book does a beautiful job of weaving together the way the different color sciences have made a cultural impact throughout history.”
CHOICE
"How do we as humans perceive color? What are the physical, physiological, and psychological bases of color perception? Is there a racial explanation for how humans see and describe color? These are a few of the questions reexamined. . . . In seven chapters, [Rossi] explores how the study of color perception in the US has involved a surprisingly diverse set of investigators, influencing biological thought through personal connections. . . . In this fascinating study, Rossi relates the story of racism in the US by tracing the path that led from 'talking about color' to thinking about race. . . . Highly recommended."
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
"As Michael Rossi demonstrates in The Republic of Color, blurring the distinctions between color in race and color in optics has a long and complex history in American culture and society. Rossi's wide‐ranging, well‐researched, and interdisciplinary study highlights a tenacious American obsession with color in multiple contexts from the mid‐19th through the early 20th century. . . . So much fascinating material. . . . The great strength of a successful study like Rossi's is the extent to which it encourages others to take up the project. Readers in many fields contiguous with the scientific and social focus on color will find much to inspire them here."
John Tresch, The Warburg Institute, University of London
"In a kaleidoscopic tour through American laboratories, artists' studios, corporations, and game boards of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Rossi puts color at the very center of US life. Colors wavered, shifted, and set each other off; stabilizing colors meant bringing order to anxious social and political relations. Lighting up a landscape of previously hidden connections, this eloquent, original book unfurls a stunning series of interlocking tales of science and sensation in the making of modern life."
Shigehisa Kuriyama, Harvard University
"Are colors creations of the mind or something out there, in the surrounding world? If their perception arises from the interaction between the mind and the world, does that mean that different minds perceive colors differently? The Republic of Color shows how modern American efforts to resolve such conundrums not only engaged profound philosophical questions about the nature of reality and human knowledge but were also constantly shadowed by sociopolitical concerns about the possibility of a shared community. This brilliant history is quite simply the most stimulating I have read in recent years."
For more information, or to order this book, please visit https://press.uchicago.edu
Google preview here
You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.