For the very first time, Liquid Crystals tells the history of this anomalous and little understood phase of matter in relation to a 'liquid crystal' epoch, spanning from 1820 to today, detailing the key interminglings of the liquid and crystalline located in politics, philosophy and art during this time.

Esther Leslie is professor of political aesthetics at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of many books and is, most recently, the editor and translator of Walter Benjamin's On Photography, also published by Reaktion Books.