A Human History of Emotion, Richard FirthGodbehere
A Human History of Emotion, Richard FirthGodbehere
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A Human History of Emotion
How the Way We Feel Built the World We Know

Author: Richard Firth-Godbehere

Narrator: Richard Firth-Godbehere

Unabridged: 11 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/16/2021

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

A sweeping exploration of the ways in which emotions shaped the course of human history, and how our experience and understanding of emotions have evolved along with us.
 
We humans like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, who, as a species, have relied on calculation and intellect to survive. But many of the most important moments in our history had little to do with cold, hard facts and a lot to do with feelings. Events ranging from the origins of philosophy to the birth of the world’s major religions, the fall of Rome, the Scientific Revolution, and some of the bloodiest wars that humanity has ever experienced can’t be properly understood without understanding emotions.

 In A Human History of Emotion, Richard Firth-Godbehere takes readers on a fascinating and wide ranging tour of the central and often under-appreciated role emotions have played in human societies around the world and throughout history—from Ancient Greece to Gambia, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, the United States, and beyond.
 
Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, art, and religious history, A Human History of Emotion vividly illustrates how our understanding and experience of emotions has changed over time, and how our beliefs about feelings—and our feelings themselves—profoundly shaped us and the world we inhabit. 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Morgan on November 21, 2021

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: The publisher of this book gave me an advanced copy to review (for free). That being said, I liked it so much I bought the Audible version (for cash). I do not feel that my experience of this book was unduly influenced by the afore mentioned transaction. But I do understand enou......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on November 29, 2021

Are emotions innate or culturally constructed? Many psychologists/social scientists choose one side or the other, but a new field of research, known as the history of emotions, views things differently. Historians of emotion (I didn’t know this job existed either) acknowledge that humans share an ev......more

Goodreads review by Brian on June 26, 2023

This is a chatty, rambling tour of concepts about emotion over the course of centuries and around much of the world. Actually, Firth-Godbehere is a digustologist, specializing in the study of what different people find revolting, and why. This specialization gives him a basis for comparing numerous......more

Goodreads review by Lidya on April 19, 2023

This book was a combination of philosophy, history, science and every other genre under the sun and I was so down for it. There was so much interesting, engaging information given to me and I think what made the experience enjoyable was that I didn't see any of it coming. I'm not sure what sort of e......more

Goodreads review by Rohit on November 25, 2021

One piece of wrong info in the book, alexander did not just turned back and went home because he and his army was tired and homesick. He was defeated in india and wounded in battle because of which he died later. Later on a lot of his generals tried invading and one of them (seleucus) made as far as......more


Quotes

"An educative foray...Insightful…Plenty of scholars seem to have read everything on their chosen subjects, but it’s rare to find one who can convert this massive database into lucid, captivating prose. Paul Johnson and Yuval Noah Harari do it; Firth-Godbehere is another."—Kirkus (Starred Review)

"A fascinating look at the profound ways in which the harnessing of human emotions has shaped world-wide history and culture. Eye-opening and thought-provoking!”—Gina Rippon, author of The Gendered Brain

“A well-written, fact-filled global tour. Readers interested in a history of emotional responses will find this a good place to start.”—Publishers Weekly

"Emotions are a much bigger part of the experience of being human than most people would ever realize. If you want to know more about emotions and how we arrived at our understanding of them, this book is exactly what you need."—Dean Burnett, author of Happy Brain

“Reading The Human History of Emotion is like watching a familiar film turned upside down. Take Richard Firth-Godbehere's hand and let him walk you down a strange path through some new and familiar historical landscapes. I very much enjoyed having my preconceptions challenged, and any book so comprehensive that it starts with Socrates and ends with emojis deserves a place on my bookshelf.”—Iszi Lawrence, author and co-host of Making History

"Richard Firth-Godbehere takes us on a rollercoaster of historical emotions, from the ancient to the modern and into the future. He shows that human emotions are more complex than you might think, with an infectious enthusiasm and energy that keep the pages turning. Whether you are looking for new ideas, narrative history, psychological theory, or cultural anthropology, this book will teach you something new about how people have felt about their feelings through the ages. A book like no other."—Thomas Dixon, author of Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears

"As we are so often held siege by and manipulated by our emotions, it seems wise to become calmly acquainted with them. Richard Firth-Godbehere provides an elegant and entertaining guide to the best and the worst of our furies and delights."—Robin Ince, co-host of The Infinite Monkey Cage