
Fear
An Alternative History of the World
Robert Peckham(Author)
Profile Books Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 12. September 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-1-78816-725-3 (ISBN)
Description
'Extraordinary' Ai Weiwei
'Brilliant' Simon Schama
Fear has long been a driving force - perhaps the driving force - of world history: a coercive tool of power and a catalyst for radical change. Here, Robert Peckham traces its transformative role over a millennium, from fears of famine and war to anxieties over God, disease, technology and financial crises.
In a landmark global history that ranges from the Black Death to the terror of the French Revolution, the AIDS pandemic to climate change, Peckham reveals how fear made us who we are, and how understanding it can equip us to face the future.
'Brilliant' Simon Schama
Fear has long been a driving force - perhaps the driving force - of world history: a coercive tool of power and a catalyst for radical change. Here, Robert Peckham traces its transformative role over a millennium, from fears of famine and war to anxieties over God, disease, technology and financial crises.
In a landmark global history that ranges from the Black Death to the terror of the French Revolution, the AIDS pandemic to climate change, Peckham reveals how fear made us who we are, and how understanding it can equip us to face the future.
Reviews / Votes
In this remarkable study, Peckham explores how fear has been used to both assert and challenge authority during the last 700 years ... Peckham's brilliant survey of fear is both erudite and wide-ranging ... In a modern world characterised by 'illiberal democracy and authoritarian populism', this important book offers much-needed insight, including a nuanced vision of fear that 'sees grounds for hope, not despair, in uncertainty'. * Guardian * Compelling * Economist * An ambitious deep dive into history * Irish Independent * [An] elegant synthesis of centuries of intellectual history ... Peckham's mapping of fear across centuries of thought offers an opportunity to reflect on a persistent political geography of anxiety * Lancet * Clear and engaging ... readers keen to grasp a better understanding of the history of the world will be entranced by Peckham's ability to communicate complex political, religious, economic, artistic, medical, military, technological and cultural trends * BBC History Magazine * Brilliant and breathtakingly wide-ranging ... As Peckham shows in gripping and beautifully written detail, fear isn't just the stock in trade of wicked despots; in some circumstances it can be turned to positive effect. Could it, now, be that fear is our friend? Read Peckham and judge for yourself. -- Simon Schama Extraordinary. This exceptional and thought-provoking book sheds light on the intricate position fear occupies in the unavoidable realities of politics and our spiritual existence. -- Ai Weiwei We all know what fear is, but who amongst us have considered its history? Peckham is fear's astute historian-translator in this big, brave, honest, and learned book. He moves us back and forth across time and place, from fourteenth-century century plague to bombs in Afghanistan, in a profoundly human history of the politics of one emotion. It's gripping as well as uncomfortable reading, that shows us the stakes when fear and freedom are twinned -- Alison Bashford, author * The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution * Robert Peckham's deeply informed and lucidly staged anatomy of fear is a remarkable achievement. Peckham shapes a fundamentally transformative account of the sociology of fear - and of fear as a constitutive element of modern sociality itself. A groundbreaking study. -- Mark Seltzer, author * The Official World * Fascinating, compelling and erudite. I have written quite a lot about fear and the brain, but learned so much about fear itself from this book. -- Joseph LeDoux, author * The Deep History of Ourselves *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
379 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78816-725-3 (9781788167253)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
09/2023
Profile Books Ltd
€31.50
Available immediately

E-Book
09/2023
Profile Books Ltd
€15.49
Available for download

Book
Profile Books Ltd
€41.03
The article will not be published
Person
Robert Peckham is a cultural historian and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. The founder of Open Cube, which promotes the integration of the humanities with the sciences and technology, he was previously Professor of History and M.B. Lee Endowed Professor in the Humanities and Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. He has held fellowships at Cambridge, Oxford, LSE and King's College London. He lives in New York.