Playthings: A History of Toys

Name: Playthings: A History of Toys
Brand: Independently Published
SKU: 9798196412752
Price: 1338.0 INR
Availability: InStock

by Pierce Jumper

Save 12%

₹1,338.00

₹1,525.00

(-12%)

₹1,338.00

Imported Edition - Ships in 18-21 Days

Free Shipping in India on orders above Rs. 500

Request Bulk Quantity Quote

Name

Quantity

+91

Company Name

Message

Quantity

More Information

ISBN13: 9798196412752
Binding: Paperback
Subject: N/A
Publisher: Independently Published
Publisher Imprint: Independently Published
Publication Date: May 10, 2026
Pages: 198
Original Price: GBP 11.73
Language: English
Edition: N/A
Item Weight: 273 grams
BISAC Subject(s): Civilization

About The Book

What do the toys we give children actually teach them?

More than we think. And more deliberately than most of us are comfortable admitting.

Playthings: A History of Toys traces the four-thousand-year story of the objects we put in children's hands - from a clay ox found in the ruins of the Indus Valley to the AI-powered companions that listen to children's conversations and transmit them to cloud servers. Along the way, it uncovers a history that is surprising, sometimes disturbing, and impossible to look away from.

Toys have always reflected the societies that made them. The toy soldiers that flooded European markets in 1914 were propaganda. The racist mechanical banks of the 1880s were ideology delivered through play. Barbie told girls their future could be anything - and that the prerequisite was an anatomically impossible body. G.I. Joe told boys that masculinity meant physical dominance, and quietly escalated his biceps to impossible proportions over three decades while nobody noticed. The 1984 deregulation of children's television created the pink-and-blue toy aisle that most people assume has always existed - it hadn't.

But Playthings is also the story of the people who pushed back. Louis Smith, who built the Shindana Toy Factory in the ruins of Watts and put Baby Nancy - a doll with Afrocentric features and natural hair - on shelves by Thanksgiving 1968. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, whose doll experiments testified before the Supreme Court and helped end school segregation. Marlo Thomas, who created Free to Be You and Me and watched a generation of toy marketers ignore everything it had achieved.

And underneath all of it, the science of why play matters at all - why every mammal does it, what happens to brains deprived of it, and why the ancient clay ox and the modern LEGO brick are doing the same fundamental work for the children who hold them.

Playthings is history as it should be written: specific, honest, and full of people who were trying to figure out - as we still are - what we owe to children, and what we are telling them without meaning to.

Perfect for readers of Stuff Matters, The Bomber Mafia, Hidden Figures, and The Warmth of Other Suns - narrative nonfiction that finds the big story inside a subject everyone thought they already understood.

Trusted for over 49 years

Family Owned Company

Secure Payment

All Major Credit Cards/Debit Cards/UPI & More Accepted

New & Authentic Products

India's Largest Distributor

Need Support?

Whatsapp Us

Related Category

history > civilization

Bestselling

View All

Atomic Habits (Lead Title)

Clear, James

₹585

₹899

(-35%)

₹585

• Author(s): Clear | James • Publisher: Penguin • Publisher Imprint: Penguin Random House • Subject: General Books

Ikigai

Hector Garcia

₹390

₹599

(-35%)

₹390

• Author(s): Hector Garcia • Publisher: Penguin • Publisher Imprint: Penguin Random House • Subject: General Books

The Courage To Be Disliked How To Free Yourself Change Your Life And Achieve Real Happiness Courage To Series

Ichiro Kishimi

₹358

₹550

(-35%)

₹358

• Author(s): Ichiro Kishimi • Publisher: GROVE ATLANTIC • Publisher Imprint: Allen & Unwin • BISAC: Personal Growth - SuccessIchiro Kishimi lives in Kyoto. He writes, lectures and teaches in psychiatric clinics as a certified counsellor and c...

View full details

12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story

Chetan Bhagat

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Chetan Bhagat • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India • Publisher Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers India • BISAC: GeneralFrom India's top-selling writer Chetan Bhagat comes a powerful new love story that will make you laugh, cry...

View full details

The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery

Brianna Wiest

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Brianna Wiest • Publisher: Manjul Publishing • Publisher Imprint: Amaryllis • BISAC: Body Mind And SpiritThis is a book about self-sabotage. Why we do it, when we do it, and how to stop doing it—for good. Coexisting but conflicting n...

View full details

The Art of Spending Money: Simple Choices for a Richer Life

Morgan Housel

₹290

₹499

(-42%)

₹290

• Author(s): Morgan Housel • Publisher: Pan Macmillan • Publisher Imprint: Pan Macmillan • BISAC: Finance - Wealth ManagementA third book from the International bestselling author of The Psychology of Money and Same as Ever, lessons on harnessing...

View full details

Mother Mary Comes To Me

Arundhati Roy

₹585

₹899

(-35%)

₹585

• Author(s): Arundhati Roy• Publisher: PRH INDIA LOCAL PRINT• Publisher Imprint: Penguin Hamish Hamilton• BISAC: Literary FiguresArundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, this is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became...

View full details

Truth without Apology: A Guide for Those Who Can Stand It

Acharya Prashant

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Acharya Prashant • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India • Publisher Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers India • BISAC: GeneralIn a world where vagueness is mistaken for depth and obscurity passes for wisdom, Truth without Apology ...

View full details

Grandma's Bag of Stories

Sudha Murthy

₹179

₹275

(-35%)

₹179

• Author(s): Sudha Murthy • Publisher: India Puffin • Publisher Imprint: India Puffin • BISAC: Short StoriesWho can resist a good story, especially when it's being told by Grandma? From her bag emerges tales of kings and cheats, monkeys and mic...

View full details

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Satoshi Yagisawa

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Satoshi Yagisawa • Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd • Publisher Imprint: Bonnier Books Ltd

Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success In A Distracted World

Newport, Cal

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Newport, Cal • Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group • Publisher Imprint: Piatkus

Can We Be Strangers Again?: A National Bestseller

Shrijeet Shandilya

₹195

₹299

(-35%)

₹195

• Author(s): Shrijeet Shandilya • Publisher: Ebury Press • Publisher Imprint: Ebury Press • BISAC: Romance - GeneralIn the electric haze of college life, three friends are bound by laughter, late-night talks and unspoken promises. But when two of...

View full details

The Secret of Secrets: (Robert Langdon Book 6)

Dan Brown

₹975

₹1,499

(-35%)

₹975

• Author(s): Dan Brown • Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd • Publisher Imprint: Transworld Publishers Ltd • BISAC: Thrillers - EspionageDan Brown is the bestselling author of Digital Fortress, Deception Point, Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci C...

View full details

Magic of the Lost Temple

Sudha Murty

₹179

₹275

(-35%)

₹179

• Author(s): Sudha Murty • Publisher: India Puffin • Publisher Imprint: India Puffin • BISAC: Action & Adventure - General

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

₹390

₹599

(-35%)

₹390

• Publisher: Penguin • Publisher Imprint: Penguin Random House • Subject: General Books • BISAC: Personal Finance - GeneralApril of 2022 marks a 25-year milestone for the personal finance classic Rich Dad Poor Dad that still ranks as the #1 Pers...

View full details

World’S Greatest Books For Personal Growth & Wealth (Set Of 4 Books) : Perfect Motivational

Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill

₹455

₹699

(-35%)

₹455

• Author(s): Dale Carnegie | Napoleon Hill • Publisher: Fingerprint • Publisher Imprint: Fingerprint • Subject: General Books

The Housemaid: An Addictive Psychological Thriller With Mind-Bending Twists

Freida Mcfadden

₹358

₹550

(-35%)

₹358

• Author(s): Freida Mcfadden • Publisher: Penguin Select Print • Publisher Imprint: Penguin Select Publishing"Multi-Million Copy Bestselling Series •Now Being Made Into a Major Motion Picture Starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried #1 New Yor...

View full details

101 Tales: The Great Panchatantra Collection

Wonder House Books

₹390

₹599

(-35%)

₹390

• Author(s): Wonder House Books • Publisher: Wonder House Books • Publisher Imprint: Wonder House Books • BISAC: Comics & Graphic Novels - Fairy Tales, Folklore, Legends & MTimeless Wisdom, Talking Animals & Life Lessons for Young Min...

View full details

Man's Search For Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Viktor E. Frankl • Publisher: Random House • Publisher Imprint: Random Hou • Subject: Medical, Nursing and Health Sciences

Bacchon KI Doctor's Desi Parenting Book: A Doctor-Mom's Guide to Milk, Myths, Motherhood and More

Madhavi Bharadwaj

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Madhavi Bharadwaj • Publisher: PRH India • Publisher Imprint: Penguin Ebury Press • BISAC: Parenting - MotherhoodWelcome to the wild, messy, wonderful world of parenting--where the nights are long, the diapers are explosive, and unso...

View full details

The Outsider

Vir Das

₹455

₹699

(-35%)

₹455

• Author(s): Vir Das • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India • Publisher Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers India • BISAC: Entertainment & Performing ArtsComedian and actor Vir Das is beloved (by some, tolerated by others, blocked by a few...

View full details

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Eric Carle

₹293

₹450

(-35%)

₹293

• Author(s): Eric Carle • Publisher: Penguin Books, Limited (UK) • Publisher Imprint: Penguin Books, Limited (UK) • BISAC: Animals - Butterflies, Moths & CaterpillarsEric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a perennial favourite with child...

View full details

Too Good to Be True : A smart, funny will-they-won’t-they romance by mostlysane

Prajakta Koli

₹260

₹399

(-35%)

₹260

• Author(s): Prajakta Koli • Publisher: Harper Fiction India • Publisher Imprint: Harper Fiction India • BISAC: Romance - ContemporaryWinner of the Amazon India Popular Choice Debut Book 2025 Award. From one of India's most-loved creators comes s...

View full details

Tuesdays With Morrie (Export) (A Format)

Albom, Mitch

₹195

₹299

(-35%)

₹195

• Author(s): Albom, Mitch • Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group • Publisher Imprint: Sphere* Subtitled 'An old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson', this is a true story of a man's rediscovery of his mentor - a book about second chances.

Playthings: A History of Toys

Related Category

Bestselling

Country

Country