Fear: A Cultural History

By Joanna Bourke

Book Overview

Fear -- the word, itself, conjures the appropriate response. With a dark cacophony of associations like fright, dread, horror, panic, alarm, anxiety, and terror, fear is universally understood as one of the most basic and powerful of human emotions, obtaining a nearly palpable and overwhelming substance in today's world.

In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed historian and prize-winning author Joanna Bourke covers the landscape of fear over the past two hundred years: From the nineteenth century dread of being buried alive -- a subject dear to the heart of Edgar Allen Poe -- to the current worry over being able to die when one chooses; from the diagnoses of phobias and anxieties produced by psychotherapists and lovingly catalogued, to the role of popular culture and media in inciting panic and dread; from the horrors of the nuclear age to the fear of twenty-first century terrorism, Fear tells the story of anguish in modern times.

A blend of social and cultural history with psychology, philosophy, and popular science, this astonishing book -- exhaustively researched and beautifully written -- offers strikingly original insights into the mind and worldview of the long twentieth century from one of the most brilliant scholars of our time.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593761139
• ISBN13: 9781593761134
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
• Length: 500 Pages
• Weight: 2.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"