Synopsis
'Absorbing' - The Guardian
'Illuminating' - Vogue
'Fascinating' - Pandora Sykes
In 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
Details
20 March 2025
9781529091397Reviews
This absorbing exploration of nostalgia raises questions about its slippery nature, and shows how it has been chillingly deployed in politics, from the cold war to TrumpismGuardian
Arnold-Forster is a shrewd critic and delightful guide. Her prose is fluent but not flashy . . . She carries weighty learning lightly – embracing everything relevant, from dubious neuroscience to cod sociology.'The Telegraph
Beautifully compact, wide-ranging and enjoyableTLS
IlluminatingVogue
