Part biography and part science history lesson, Simon Garfield touches on it all in Mauve. If you geek out over how seemingly un-related things are actually interconnected, then this book will certainly keep you enthralled. Following a trail of purple from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, one man did indeed invent a color that changed the world.
The biography aspect focuses on the father of synthetic dyes: William Perkin. It starts out as you would expect any biography to start out: how he came to study chemistry (a budding field in the mid-1850s, that was just starting to catch on), but then Garfield quickly moves to how Perkin quite accidentally discovered mauve—the first synthetic (specifically aniline) dye, and a brilliant purple hue at that. From accident to being the hottest color trend of the 1860s, Garfield chronicles everything in-between regarding the rise of Perkin and his mauve.
Mauve was just the start. As color trends go, it eventually faded in popularity, but the science behind it stuck around. Aniline (what Perkin’s dyes were derived from) is an organic compound that proved to be very versatile in turning one material into one or more products. In this case: dye that was wash-fast and light-fast (won’t fade in the wash or with exposure to light). As Garfield unfolds in his book, it was Perkin’s process in working with aniline that gave us not only purple dye, but red and a synthetic indigo. And from there, those three colors are responsible for the development of biochemistry as a field, and it could be argued that they are the root of numerous advances in medicine that have gotten us to where we are today. (I really could go into more detail here because this is just absolutely fascinating to me. But I won’t…spoilers).
Interspersed through the book are a couple different types of “flash-forwards”. One to ceremonies in the 1906 celebrating the anniversary of the discovery and Perkin and his contributions to chemistry, and records of speeches singing the praises of mauve and how aniline dyes opened the doors to so much more innovation. Second to the modern-day and discussions with leaders in chemistry and innovation on how Perkin’s work ultimately lead to theirs. (to be fair it is a wee bit dated for “modern-day”—Mauve was published in 2000, so some of the “current” scientific work discussed isn’t exactly current anymore)
Occasionally, I did find the transitions between biography and the jumps forward to be a bit clunky, requiring me to read back a little bit to realize that a jump had been made. But I think the jumps are very necessary to add depth to Perkin’s story. Without them I think we’d get bored pretty quickly of discussions of patents and supply lines. But I think the clunkiness of the lack of transitions can be forgiven, considering the plethora of geeky trivia that is provided throughout the book.
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Ramblings of a Costume Nerd 