Facing Fear: The History of an Emotion in Global Perspective

Hardback

Main Details

Title Facing Fear: The History of an Emotion in Global Perspective
Authors and Contributors      Edited by Michael Laffan
Edited by Max Weiss
SeriesPublications in Partnership with the Shelby Cullom Davis Center at Princeton University
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:288
Dimensions(mm): Height 235,Width 152
ISBN/Barcode 9780691153599
ClassificationsDewey:302.17
Audience
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations 11 halftones.

Publishing Details

Publisher Princeton University Press
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publication Date 14 October 2012
Publication Country United States

Description

Fear is ubiquitous but slippery. It has been defined as a purely biological reality, derided as an excuse for cowardice, attacked as a force for social control, and even denigrated as an unnatural condition that has no place in the disenchanted world of enlightened modernity. In these times of institutionalized insecurity and global terror, Facing Fear sheds light on the meaning, diversity, and dynamism of fear in multiple world-historical contexts, and demonstrates how fear universally binds us to particular presents but also to a broad spectrum of memories, stories, and states in the past. From the eighteenth-century Peruvian highlands and the California borderlands to the urban cityscapes of contemporary Russia and India, this book collectively explores the wide range of causes, experiences, and explanations of this protean emotion. The volume contributes to the thriving literature on the history of emotions and destabilizes narratives that have often understood fear in very specific linguistic, cultural, and geographical settings. Rather, by using a comparative, multidisciplinary framework, the book situates fear in more global terms, breaks new ground in the historical and cultural analysis of emotions, and sets out a new agenda for further research. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Alexander Etkind, Lisbeth Haas, Andreas Killen, David Lederer, Melani McAlister, Ronald Schechter, Marla Stone, Ravi Sundaram, and Charles Walker.

Author Biography

Michael Laffan is professor of history at Princeton University. His books include "The Makings of Indonesian Islam" (Princeton). Max Weiss is assistant professor of history and Near Eastern studies at Princeton University. He is the author of "In the Shadow of Sectarianism: Law, Shi'ism, and the Making of Modern Lebanon".

Reviews

"[S]imply establishing that fear has been a significant factor in history, that it is experienced and represented diversely, and that it forms an inescapable part of our collective memory and contemporary motivation is enough to make the book worth the read and hopefully to inspire more studies of fear and other emotions in society and history."--Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database