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Nostalgia

By: Agnes Arnold-Forster
Narrated by: Agnes Arnold-Forster
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Summary

Read by the author, Agnes Arnold-Forster.

‘Arnold-Forster belongs to that valuable non-jargon-spouting breed of academic who is capable of explaining complex ideas in simple language.’ – The Times

In Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion, Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from its first identification in 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).

Nostalgia is a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. It is one of the many ways we communicate a desire for the past, dissatisfaction with the present and our visions for the future. Arnold-Forster’s fascinating history of this complex, slippery emotion is a lens through which to consider the changing pace of society, our collective feelings of regret, dislocation and belonging, the conditions of modern and contemporary work, and the politics of fear and anxiety. 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Agnes Arnold-Forster (P)2024 Macmillan Publishers International Limited
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A fun ride through the history of nostalgia

This is a solid history of nostalgia specifically and emotions generally, well framed and brilliantly narrated. It's clear the author loves the subject matter. Unlike most books of it's kind, it is neither reactionary nor dishonest about colonialism, racism, sexism and populism and their involvement in this history. But, having shown how much the terminology has changed in a short time, the book does feel like it also seeks to redefine nostalgia (as something closer to whimsy) in a futile attempt to rescue it from its own bad press.

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Insightful and well researched history into collective perceptions of nostalgia and its cultural impact

Lots to unpack here; a fascinating chronology of the way nostalgia has been conceived throughout the ages; largely from western perspectives and with a particular focus on 20th and 21st century sources.

The author presents a great insight into how our evolving conception of nostalgia has been driven by societal changes and serves as a useful means of tracking those changes. Good narration, would recommend.

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