Nostalgia : A History of a Dangerous Emotion

Author: Arnold-Forster, Agnes General & world historyPublished on 20 March 2025 by PAN MACMILLAN (Picador) in the United Kingdom.Paperback | 272 pages198 x 130 | 216g Absorbing - The GuardianIlluminating - VogueFascinating - Pandora SykesIn Nostalgia, historian Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from seventeenth-century Switzerland (when it was held to be an illness that could, quite literally, kill you) to the present day (when it is co-opted by advertising agencies and politicians alike to sell us goods and policies).It is a fascinating, compelling story of a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. It is also a clear-eyed analysis of what we are doing now, how we feel about it and what we might want to change about the world we live in.‘Beautifully compact, wide-ranging and enjoyable’ - TLS