Fear: The History of a Political Idea

by Corey Robin

Book Overview

For many commentators, September 11 inaugurated a new era of fear. But as Corey Robin shows in his unsettling tour of the Western imagination--the first intellectual history of its kind--fear has shaped our politics and culture since time immemorial.
From the Garden of Eden to the Gulag Archipelago to today's headlines, Robin traces our growing fascination with political danger and disaster. As our faith in positive political principles recedes,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195189124
• ISBN13: 9780195189124
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Don't let this one escape you

Corey Robin began this book prior to the events of 9/11 and the politics of fear that have gripped this nation, culminating in the recent presidential election. Unfortunately, this scholarly work on the history of fear as both a political idea and a reprehensible social instrument was rather late to arrive in the recent avalanche of mostly mindless books. It has yet to be recognized for its thoughtful and lucid analysis. Well-researched and documented by nearly 50 pages of references, it's a watershed book on this subject like no other. Seldom will you find a more thought provoking book so in tune with the times.

Fear: History of a Political Idea

Thought provoking and most applicable to todays times--Weapons of Mass Destruction, Terrorism,etc. Historically many political motivations are based on fear as Robin explains. A good voyage through history on Fear and how it has been used by Political figures, leaders and statesman to move the public to accept their strategies, plans and actions. Perhaps we see Robin's theory most clearly in action in this November election race.