A History of Terror: Fear & Dread Through the Ages

by Paul Newman

Book Overview

An illustrated social history, from prehistoric terror of ancestral spirits down to existential angst a la J-P Sartre and dread of alien kidnapping. Throughout history, humankind has been aware of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0750931868
• ISBN13: 9780750931861
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

A History of Fear

This interesting book looks at the origins of fear and terror and places it in the context of human history and how these have manifested themselves through the ages. The author shows that since fear is one of mankind's basest and most primordial emotions, it can exert great influence on not only an individual basis, but on entire societies and civilizations. Fear can be used as a political tool to control the masses, as the Church did during the Middle Ages to combat the encroaching Muslims as well as "dangerous" heretical sects like the Cathars. Later, during the Renaissance, fear had people convinced that Europe was being plagued by witches and demons. Many of our oldest myths and legends regarding werewolves and vampires, etc, can be traced back to our simple human fears of death and dying, fears of the unknown wilderness and it inhabitants...perhaps even simply, our fear of the dark and the unknown and dangerous mysteries it contains. Thus, we give these fears a familiar face to better confront them. Fear and terror are irrational and, left unchecked, can override even our greatest reason. This book provides an intriguing insight into these often misunderstood and powerful forces.

a riveting read

I did not think such a simple thing as fear had so many reverberations and meanings until I read Paul Newman's book and thought about it. I did not realise how many small fears may hide one large fear. What this book did was help me penetrate the various disguises of nightmare and panic, the different hobgoblins and ghosts one shares and runs from down the centuries. I was truly enlightened by this study which has so many varied aspects.

A Dreadful Experience

This was interesting, in that it explained that fear had a kind of beginning. I did not realise about Pan and I had not thought before that fear was a primary element in controlling people nor that ghosts themselves can be used as a way of curtailing violent tendencies in individuals. Things like the vampire myth were placed in an historical context, so that you learned why certain fears sprang up when, and what was the root sensation behind vampires and hobgoblins. There was a lot of witty writing in the book which I thoroughly enjoyed, too.

The Roots of Panic

I was fascinated by this book because it shows how out fears change down the centuries. We start out by being afraid of many things - spiders, wolves and ghosts - and then gradually our curiosity about them grows. In this book we learn about how ghost stories were used as a form of social control, to make people confer money to monasteries, how panic and end of the world cults were used to whip people into a furore of flagellation and bodily abuse, about Pan and the ancient roots of terror, about vampires, werewolves and alien beings. We learn how fear and fascination are inmixed and about how the twentieth century showed a burgeoning of strange obsessions and desires. I did enjoy this book - found it scholarly and racy at the same time - and I am going to give it the highest mark.