<p><strong>"You'll finish [Greenfield's] book with new respect for color, especially for red. With <em>A Perfect Red</em>, she does for it what Mark Kurlansky in<em> Salt</em> did for that common commodity."--<em>Houston Chronicle</em></strong></p><p>Interweaving mystery, empire, and adventure, Amy Butler Greenfield's masterful popular history offers a window onto a world far different from our own: a world in which the color red was rare and precious--a source of wealth and power for those who could unlock its secrets. And in this world nothing was more prized than cochineal, a red dye that produced the brightest, strongest red the Old World had ever seen.</p><p><em>A Perfect Red</em> recounts the story of this legendary red dye, from its cultivation by the ancient Mexicans and discovery by 16th-century Spanish conquistadors to the European pirates, explorers, alchemists, scientists, and spies who joined in the chase to unlock its secrets, a chase that lasted more than three centuries. It evokes with style and verve this history of a grand obsession, of intrigue, empire, and adventure in pursuit of the most desirable color on earth.</p>