The first monograph on a groundbreaking Surrealist masterpiece, Reading Claude Cahun's Disavowals offers a comprehensive account of Cahun's most important published work, Aveux non avenus (Disavowals), 1930. Jennifer L. Shaw provides an encompassing interpretation of this groundbreaking work, paying careful attention to the complex interrelationship between the photomontages and writings of Aveux non avenus. This study argues that the texts and images of Aveux non avenus not only explore Cahun's own subjectivity, they formulate a trenchant social and cultural critique. Shaw explores how Cahun's work both calls into question the dominant culture of interwar France - with its traditional gender roles, religious conservatism, and pronatalism - and takes to task the era's artistic avant-garde and in particular its models of desire. This volume cuts across the disciplinary boundaries of interwar art studies, demonstrating how one artist's personal exploration intervened in wider contemporary debates about the purpose of art, the role of women in French culture, and the status of homosexuality, in the aftermath of World War I.

For most people Wimbledon is synonymous with the tennis championship that swells the population of this upmarket London suburb every summer. In 2012 the iconic grass courts will host the tennis event at the Olympics as well as the annual grand slam. Wimbledon has much more to offer than the tennis however. There is the wonderful common, four golf courses, Cannizaro house and park, Wimbledon and Morden Park, greyhound and stock car racing and a football club with a fascinating history. Home to the mighty Cecil family in Tudor times, in later years William Wilberforce, Horatio Nelson and numerous ministers of state also lived in the area, drawn by both its beauty and proximity to London. When the railway arrived in the late nineteenth century the area at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill was developed and the population exploded. Today SW19 is a very sought after postcode. Joanna Jackson captures a year in the life of this vibrant, bustling town with its much-treasured green spaces, thriving cafe culture, theatres and boutiques.

In a world in which many photographers seek to avoid definition, Roger Ballen's photographs define themselves in their defiance of classification and genre: his world stands out as one of a kind. The black-and-white images featured in Asylum of the Birds were created exclusively within the confines of a house in a Johannesburg suburb, the location of which remains a guarded secret. The inhabitants of the house, both human and animal - including, most notably, the ever-present birds - are the cast of Ballen's world, performers amidst the theatrical interiors that they create and he orchestrates. The resulting images exist in a space between painting, drawing, installation and photography. They are timeless, psychologically powerful and masterfully composed.

Leading photographer Martin Parr, author of the highly successful 'Boring Postcards' has put together another wonderful book from his personal collection of cards. This time he celebrates the American Christmas card. These are a fascinating eye-opener into American culture, as proud families everywhere (pets included) pose before the camera to send their Christmas greetings across the nation.