As you can see from my profile picture, I am a redhead. Like most of my kind, my relationship with my hair color has been contentious, but I have settled into a happy place of acceptance. My mother has red hair, a brick red shade I have often envied, and I am told a great-great aunt did.
Like me, Harvey is a redhead. Her book covers a large array of topics - the genes behind red hair, red hair in society, mythology, art, literature, television, film, and history. Beginning with the science of it all, the book starts a little dry, but the work is fascinating as she explores what we know about the spread of the gene that creates red hair, as well as what is being theorized in cases where the science gets fuzzy (for example, mummies with red hair don't always mean a redhead, as henna was used as a burial aid and could change appearance of hair following centuries of mummification).
Supporting her discussion of red as the color used to mark extraordinary qualities in art are beautiful photos of paintings and pottery. She specifically talks about the use of the color red to draw attention, making it a natural choice for artists when they want to highlight a subject in their work. The visual aided in the development of some of the stereotypes of redheads as they became associated with popular figures in art, especially Judas, angels, Mary the Mother of God and, most commonly, Mary Magdalene.
Clues of redheads of history are carefully examined. She mentions several qualities that might suggest redheadedness, or have been taken as an indication of such, without actually knowing of the individual had red hair. Because of the way that history works, it is assumed many firey figures of history were redheaded, even if the only words use to describe them were "ruddy", which is more descriptive of skin tone that often accompanies red hair, but doesn't necessarily require it. Personally, I loved her critical eye. I thought it was well applied throughout the book, looking for where supposition departs from fact.
The part of the book that really struck me was when she began discussing modern societal assumptions of redheads, the vast difference between the view of redheaded men and women, and the oft-common shared experience of redheaded children as easy targets for insults and mockery. She lays out comments and responses that I didn't even realize where commonly shared until I read them in the book. It unsettled me that such behavior was widely accepted, but at least I know it's not only me. I am much more critical when I see a redhead on a screen - is she the temptress, the rebel, the troublemaker? The number of times the answer is yes is a little disturbing.
She ends the book sharing her experience visiting Redhead Days in Breda, of which she also included a really beautiful picture, and brings it back to the sense that there is an understanding and shared experience of being a redhead, even if we have different eye color, skin tones (she does a lovely exploration of cultures that boast a regular percentage of redheads who also depart from the stereotypical fair skin and light eyes), and languages. Most of the people she talked to had this in common - that they had struggled with their hair and the undesired attention it brought them, but that they would trade it for nothing.
I think the book would be interesting for anyone who is interested in cultural shifts and trends, the development of stereotypes in Western culture, tropes in television and cinema, art history, or who happen to be a redhead themselves. I expect to reference the book in the future and several items from her "Reading for Redheads" appendix are on my list for future reads.
