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 *
