How the Tricolor Got Its Stripes

Starting with flags that we know, this captivating history of flags explains their origins and hidden meanings, taking a chatty but always entertaining path through this universal subject. Each chapter starts with a well-known flag - such as the French tricolor, where the white in the centre (the monarchy) is kept in check by the red and blue of the Parisian flag representing the people - and shows how that flag led, for example, to the red, white and green tricolor of Italy - thought in turn to represent the red of struggle, the white of the Alps and the green of Italy's lush vegetation. And then to a host of other tricolors in different parts of the world. Many of the over 200 colour illustrations feature alternative versions of existing flags - the flags that might have been - such as the red Canadian maple leaf between two bands of blue, representing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. First published in Ukrainian six months before the start of the Ukrainian-Russian War, this entertaining, chatty and very likeable history of flags was written by Ukrainian businessman and ex-cabinet minister Dmytro Dubilet as a lockdown project.