Fear is one of the most basic and most powerful of all the human emotions. Sometimes it is hauntingly specific: flames searing patterns on the ceiling, a hydrogen bomb, a terrorist. More often, anxiety overwhelms us from some source within: there is an irrational panic about venturing outside, a dread of failure, a premonition of doom.
In this astonishing book we encounter the fears and anxieties of hundreds of British and American men, women and children. From fear of the crowd to agoraphobia, from battle experiences to fear of nuclear attack, from cancer to AIDS, this is an utterly original insight into the mindset of the twentieth century from one of most brilliant historians and thinkers of our time.

* Author PR activity to include media interviews and events. * Targeting high profile media including Richard and Judy, BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour and BBC1 Breakfast. * Author features in the national press, BBC History, History Today and women's magazines. * Featured on www.virago.co.uk * Reading copies available

About the Author
Joanna Bourke is a professor of history at Birkbeck College in London. Her book An Intimate History of Killing received critical acclaim, winning the Wolfson History Prize

Reviews
Illuminating and unfailingly interesting * Lucy Hughes-Hallett, SUNDAY TIMES *
*'Joanna Bourke, graceful, shrewd, brilliantly compendious in research, has written a history as topical as your morning newspaper . . . This is a journey full of wit and scholarship, an enthralling read * Peter Preston, OBSERVER *
*'Clever . . . original and complex * Piers Brendon, GUARDIAN *
*'A fine book * EVENING STANDARD *


Awards
Short-listed for Mind Book of the Year Award 2006 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781844081561
Author Professor Joanna Bourke
Format Paperback
Page Count 512
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 356g
Dimensions(mm) 195mm * 129mm * 35mm