Fear
An Alternative History of the World
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Fear
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Narrated by:
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Callum Coates
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By:
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Robert Peckham
About this listen
It's been said that, after 9/11, the 2008 financial crash and the COVID-19 pandemic, we're a more fearful society than ever before. Yet fear, and the panic it produces, have long been driving forces - perhaps the driving force - of world history: fear of God, of famine, war, disease, poverty, and other people. In Fear: An Alternative History of the World, Robert Peckham considers the impact of fear in history, as both a coercive tool of power and as a catalyst for social change.
Beginning with the Black Death in the fourteenth century, Peckham traces a shadow history of fear. He takes us through the French Revolution and the social movements of the nineteenth century to modern market crashes, Cold War paranoia and the AIDS pandemic, into a digital culture increasingly marked by uniquely twenty-first-century fears.
What did fear mean to us in the past, and how can a better understanding of it equip us to face the future? As Peckham demonstrates, fear can challenge as well as cement authority. Some crises have destroyed societies; others have been the making of them. Through the stories of the people and the moments that changed history, Fear: An Alternative History of the World reveals how fear and panic made us who we are.
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What listeners say about Fear
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 10-10-23
A Fantastic Listen!
This is my first audio book. It is much better than I expected. I have only listened to podcasts but never an audio book. I'm so glad that I picked this book. The title and theme are very topical. The areas the author selected to cover are interesting: from plague to slavery, industrialisation to climate change. I mean, how can you cover the history of the world in under 12 hours?! The author manages to cover a lot of ground (geographical-wise and time-wise) and inspired me to think about fear in a new way.
The book is well-paced and the narrator did a wonderful job to bring it alive! Would recommend.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- andrew
- 13-10-23
Fear is always in us
Excellent, well researched book about how fear shapes our world and how it’s used and propagated by the media, governments and politicians to achieve control and change. And how it’s always been with us throughout our long history.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- H
- 25-09-23
Thought and the abyss
A thorough and remarkable investigation enabling speculative contemplation for positive change. To imagine young minds in possession of such reasoning as to abstract from immoral victory.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M J Witham
- 21-01-24
Informative perspective forming/reforming
The topic was covered in great depth and breadth. I enjoyed the obviously informed perspective as to how fear is used in society as a form of control.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- P. M. Kelly
- 28-08-24
Brilliant
A different way of viewing historical events from the Black Death to today. The chapter on the slave trade is superb. He is weakest on the present day, which is not surprising although I think a lot of people are more aware of just how much we are manipulated through fear by government. I found the narrators pronunciation of "France" very irritating, neither pronounced in English nor French , but a cross between the two.
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