How many colours are there? In the West we see seven, but the Chinese see five, while the Pirahã tribe in the Amazon have no words for the spectrum. Colour isn't something we see; it's something we think. In this kaleidoscopic compendium, Paul Simpson takes the eleven key colours and explores how they have shaped our evolution as a species, persuaded us in politics and culture and allowed us to express or oppress personal freedoms. His book shows how colour codes underlie everything from the shoes we wear and cars we drive to the paintings we revere. The colour code explores such stories as the stigma against green hats in China, the tragic beauty of cherry-blossom pink, the grisly secret of Mummy Brown, the bloody, revolutionary history of red, the black dress worn as an act of royal vengeance, and why white is a modernist colour.