Fear: An Alternative History of The World

by Robert Peckham

It's been said that, after 9/11, the 2008 financial crash and the Covid-19 pandemic, we're a more fearful society than ever before. Yet fear, and the panic it produces, have long been driving forces - perhaps the driving force - of world history: fear of God, of famine, war, disease, poverty, and other people. In Fear: An Alternative History of the World, Robert Peckham considers the impact of fear in history, as both a coercive tool of power and as a catalyst for social change.

Beginning with the Black Death in the fourteenth century, Peckham traces a shadow history of fear. He takes us through the French Revolution and the social movements of the nineteenth century to modern market crashes, Cold War paranoia and the AIDS pandemic, into a digital culture increasingly marked by uniquely twenty-first-century fears.

What did fear mean to us in the past, and how can a better understanding of it equip us to face the future? As Peckham demonstrates, fear can challenge as well as cement authority. Some crises have destroyed societies; others have been the making of them. Through the stories of the people and the moments that changed history, Fear: An Alternative History of the World reveals how fear and panic made us who we are.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Psychology, Politics, Audiobook, Sociology, Society

448 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2023

About the author

Robert Peckham is a British writer and historian of science, technology, and medicine, currently based at the University of Hong Kong, where he is MB Lee Professor in the Humanities and Medicine, Chair of the Department of History, and Director of the Centre for the Humanities and Medicine.

Reviews

[Amy Drozdowicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I phased out a little bit while cooking and when I came back to it my guy was unironically referring to PragerU as a non-profit so I’m not sure how seriously to take him

[Drew Letellier · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first chapter of the book cautions that it won’t just be a greatest hits of historical panic, but that’s exactly what this book is. Good if you’re interested in a historical survey of vaguely fascinating events, but rarely does Fear delve into any event beyond those most frequently discussed. Using fear as a historical framing device is, in my opinion, bound to fail because a theory of history that relies on an innate human emotion has little to offer beyond the painfully obvious: human instincts impact historical events. There is no real thesis besides, as a friend put it, “sometimes people get scared 😯”. It’s very easy reading though, and chapters on AIDS, comic books, and Hong Kong offer some good information. But if you’re going to do a historical survey and have an uninteresting thesis, I really believe you have to choose less historicized events.

[Jacqueline · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s not often I give up on a book but unfortunately “Fear” is more interesting in concept than execution. It reads almost like a university essay - jammed with formal and informal quotations to other historians, journalists, public figures, summarising complex theories in one sentence to the next with no time for the concepts to breath, and seemingly no coherent thread connecting them to one another. Halfway through and I’m still unsure what argument the author is trying to make, if any. At worst I could say it seems like the author just term searched “fear” in a historical archive and copy/pasted what came up.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do we define fear? Is it just the favouring possibility over probability, is it completely negative like a flight or fight response, how is it both a source of disempowerment and motivation at the same time, how is it harnessed and used to manipulate the plebs by the powerful, how is it both exclusive creating loneliness and inclusive creating herd behaviour, theres plenty to think about while reading this book.

Looking at history using the frame of fear is an intriguing idea and the author knows his stuff (100 pages of notes!) And he does a great job of communicating philosophical thought in an accsible manner. Its not all doom and gloom its strangely comforting to know that the worries about media disinformation goes way back to the advent of the printing press or worries about social disengagement we see with people stuck to thier mobiles was a bone of contention back in 1906 with the telegraph.

However, i think the net was cast far too wide, while the blurb says it covers 700 years the lions share is focused on the last 100. The absence of any satisfying conclusions leaves the reader a well nothings ever going to change feeling which is a bit of a disappointment.

[Conor Burnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh! I do appreciate how much time he must've put into writing this book. He must've quoted every person who has ever said anything to do with fear over the last 700 years.

I would've preferred if he had went into more detail about the historical events rather than just what people wrote about them

[Bella Henricks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled with this book conceptually; I don’t think it fits into “intellectual history”, and it felt more like a history of emotion. It was more a whistle-stop tour of Western society’s bad bits and greatest hits, with a weird punch at Australia’s Covid lockdown as “biomedical tyranny” at the end which was utterly bizarre.

[Rebecka Ekeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nam nam nam

[The Bookshop Mons · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts with an interesting promise : not just making a list of historical panics, but showing how fear has been a positive drive for Human kind throughout.
Unfortunately, this starting point is the only interesting thing about this essay.

It is precisely "just a list" of moments of fear. The author, oblivious to the difference between correlation and causality, forget to prove any point.

A disappointment.

[Meg Dyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

a confusing book. loads of great stuff but weirdly boring given how interesting the subject and examples should be. 3.5 maybe

[Jazmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

An Alternative History it is not, more like, History Told through the Lens of Fear.

Robert Peckham takes us on a journey through the last 700 years and basically says, “Congrats humanity, you’ve been scared for THIS long!”
Plague? Fear. Revolutions? Fear. Doomscrolling every social media app ever? Also fear.
It’s well written, genuinely interesting and Peckham has obviously put soooo much time and effort into it (peep the 100+ pages of notes and references), but it kind of feels like a list of every historical anxiety that has ever been. Each chapter is a “Here’s another era where people panicked,” and you’re just nodding like, “Yeah… checks out.”
It's packed with great content, but I oddly found myself bored, which I shouldn’t have been considering how intriguing the subject matter is.

Maybe fear IS the secret engine of society? It doesn’t always ruin things, sometimes it can inspire change. Comforting I guess… Sort of like, yeah the ship is sinking, but the quartet is still playing.
It's a solid read, not life changing, but perfect if you want some depressing historical trivia, and some reassurance that humanity has always been an anxious mess.

[Stefano Cucinotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

La storia del mondo raccontata attraverso le Grandi Paure che hanno attraversato il tempo, e che sono più presenti che mai. Dalla peste al Covid, dai totalitarismi alle eco-ansie, Peckham costruisce un impianto eccezionale e pieno zeppo di fonti. Un volume illuminante, a tratti arduo e angoscioso per le tematiche (i capitoli sui campi di concentramento e sulla Rivoluzione Industriale sono davvero duri da affrontare), scritto con una serietà e una competenza encomiabili. Un viaggio alternativo nella Storia e nella cultura modellate sull'emozione più antica. Davvero eccezionale.

[Μίλτος Τρ. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ενδιαφέρουσα η οπτική της ανθρώπινης ιστορίας από την πλευρά του φόβου, ενός από τα βασικά κίνητρα της εξέλιξης του ανθρώπου, αλλά φτωχή η ανάπτυξη, καθώς περιορίζεται περισσότερο στην καταγραφή "των φόβων" χωρίς να προχωράει παρακάτω.

[Sari سري Taha طه · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fear by Robert Peckham is a compelling and timely read. The author's extensive research, particularly his analysis through the lens of various artistic works, offers fascinating insights. While reading, I found myself often pausing to look up the referenced artworks and literature online - a testament to the book's engaging nature. A future edition would benefit from including more visual references and updated historical context.

Though thoroughly researched, some topics could have been more concise without losing their impact. Nevertheless, this remains a recommended read for anyone interested in understanding how fear shapes society and culture.

[Aurore Choupie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out it's more a list more than anything else,

But interesting still !

Though DNF 65%

3,5 stars rounded down.

[T GW · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author notes in the introduction of this book that “the book is more than a Greatest Hits compilation of historical fears” - however, that is precisely what it is. Oftentimes, although a fascinating premise, you can’t help but get the feeling that Peckham is drawing a rather long bow.

Analysing human history through the lens of fear to better understand the history as well as the nature of fear itself is an interesting enough concept, however there are points in the book where this feels forced: revolutionary France, yes. Industrial Britain and the “fear of machines?”… less convincing, at least to justify its inclusion in the book.

Because of this, the book is quite shallow and at the same time, very broad. I sometimes found myself enduring long chapters with excessive examples which never quite delving deep enough into the interesting topics. It reads like a university essay, which means while sometimes interesting, it often drifts into monotonous formats and tired sentence structures.

Fundamentally, it lacks a central idea: why should we care?

[Izas]

3/5/24 Lo abandono en la pagina 124 porque me ha aburrido un poquit :(

[David Margetts · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that attempts to show how fear has played a significant role in the history of humankind. It is a step by step history of the world and how 'Fear' has provided religions, states, rulers, autocrats, institutions, groups, societies, activists and individuals to exert power and influence over others, by preying on anxieties. It depicts how fear can manipulate others and events, fear mongering, creating scapegoats, spreading misinformation and developing conspiracy theories.
There really in nothing particularly earth shatteringly new in this concept, employed as a tool by the Church, tyrannical regimes, and the establishment for millennia, and promoted by Machiavelli as far back as the 16th century.
There is no doubt that 'fear' and the loss of life, freedom, well being, possessions etc is far more powerful than 'hope' or potential gain, and therefore is utilised to 'move and motivate people', usually in negative ways.
That said, fear can not only be negative and harmful, but also very positive and helpful. The key is to determine whether what we fear is actually real or fake. Fear can help us to avoid, flee or take appropriate actions for our welfare, when it is real and present. It can also be debilitating and costly when it has been manufactured or over emphasised and in the absence of empirical evidence. eg keeping children at home all the time vs giving them freedom due to fears of abuse, or fears of flying when the accident ratio is so low, or fears of mass immigration as in Brexit.
I think these elements could have been covered in much more details than they were ie positive fear vs negative fear and how the serve or undermine us.
Another criticism would be of the rather biased take on industrialisation, capitalism and globalism, which whilst imperfect, have clearly improved the lives of billions across the world, not least the 'bottom billion poorest'. It is the naive romanticism of being a pre industrialisation agricultural worker or maybe a hunter gatherer which is unhelpful. My ancestors were agricultural workers, working from dawn to dusk under feudal lords, with little or no freedom, poor health and life expectancy, and no wealth - not great at all!!
The author is right to highlight the threats of populism, polarisation of politics, and the impacts of freedom of speech, but tends to so again from a left leaning basis, critical of the populist right but without mention of the disastrous socialist experiments of the populist left (Cuba / Venezuela / Argentina, Tanzania, Zimbabwe etc etc)
On balance he is right to show that we as humans are driven, susceptible and to some extent attracted by 'fear', which leaves us prey to the unscrupulous, the manipulative, the deceitful and now to the algorithms, but he says little about how we should or could combat the growing challenges we face, and how we can determine the 'real fears' from the semantic ghosts which increasingly plague us.
Good as far as it goes, but could have gone much further, with maybe less detailed history and more detailed analysis?

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘When, how and why did fear come to be shackled to tyranny and invoked in opposition to freedom, even as it is marshalled in support of this very cause?’

In this thought-provoking book, Mr Peckham considers the impact of fear in history.

‘I make two arguments in this book. The first is that different political regimes are enabled by the production of different kinds of fear, just as counter-fears, often unseen, disrupt the smooth operation of those regimes, sometimes shattering them, but often creating a pressure on them to evolve.’

And then, the second argument.

‘Tracing the history of fear can help us rethink assumptions about the nature of power, freedom, egalitarianism and market capitalism. We’ve been taught to think that fear is antithetical to democratic systems; in contrast to fear-dependent autocracies, where the repressive state uses terror to subdue its citizens, democracies, we’re told, protect us from coercive infringement on our lives. This is the book’s second claim. It is a mistake to assume that modern freedoms have been won by the abrogation of fear from political life. On the contrary, as we’ll see, state-sponsored fear has played a crucial role, not only in the ascent of modern freedom but also in the emergence of the economic order on which it has been built.’

As stated in the blurb, Mr Peckham begins with Black Death in the fourteenth century, takes us through the French Revolution and on to various social movements in the nineteenth century, through modern market collapses, Cold War paranoia, on to the AIDS pandemic, and finishes in the twenty-first century: the rise of terrorism, yet another pandemic, eco-anxiety, and the increasing impact (for better and worse) of digital culture.

There is a lot of information to digest, and the book is accompanied by over a hundred pages of notes and a comprehensive index. While I am most familiar with history around various pandemics, the rise of technology and the impact of stock market crashes, I had not thought as much about politics. Yes, in the past I was largely guilty of thinking that fear is antithetical to democratic systems. However, world events over the past eight years have mostly cured me of that assumption.

It took me a while to read this book. I had to keep stopping to consider some of the points made, to try to be objective about events and reactions. And now? I recognise that fear takes many different forms.

Fascinating.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[lifelonghistorylover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fear: An Alternative History of the World by Robert Peckhman, details how specific events such as catastrophes, plagues and pandemics, have caused fear and become a driving force throughout history. And, how fear is a coercive tool of power and a catalyst for radical change. Peckhman traces its transformative role from fears of famine, war and religion, to terrorism, natural disasters, politics, revolutions, and dictatorships. The book also includes modern fears such as financial crashes, technology hacks, and epidemics that have happened in living memory; such as AIDS, through to present-day pandemics like Covid - which we are still trying to understand.

Fear takes us from Pre-reformation Europe to twenty-first-century China; and looks at how past events have inherently shaped our current fears and the connection we have to our ancestors through fearing the same things. The book examines how far people have gone to prevent their greatest fears from occurring, such as how Inca children were sacrificed as offerings by their elders to ‘prevent’ volcanoes from erupting. And it explains what fear is, by looking at the psychological and physiological processes of this emotional state.

Peckhman writes that his book is more than just a ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation of historical fears. He is ‘interested in what fear has meant to individuals and societies in the past, as well as how events have shaped what we think about fear and its uses.’ Fear has been manipulated by those in power as a scaremongering tool throughout history, and the author shines a light on how we can possibly avoid this in the future, or at the very least be aware of it.

While the content of this book is at times confronting (many of my fears, and anxieties are included in this book) it was also oddly comforting at times. It’s a reminder that the human race has experienced everything before and survived many times – we are resilient. We can harness our fears and use them. This was a truly fascinating read.

[Fionnuala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the subject -- by necessity, this is a broad history rather than a deep dive, but it's still informative and very interesting, and raises some good points and alternative interpretations. It's a slow read due to the amount of information contained, but certainly not a dull or a dry one in most places -- I found the later chapters to be more engaging than the earlier ones, but this is likely a matter of taste and interests. I didn't find the slow pace the book set to be unpleasant, either; it's well worth taking your time with this one.

I think fear is one of those things that we live with so consistently that we end up forgetting the fact that it informs pretty much our every decision as well as the society we live in. (I think I read somewhere recently that, when you think about it, every decision we make and every goal we set is based at root in a fear of death, which is harrowing to think about but also not really a point that can be argued against.) This book peels back the normality of it and highlights just how deep fear permeates into the world, and it's a genuinely new way of looking at the world. As somebody who is definitely not taken in by the delusion that the world is safe (or can be made such), I usually find a lot of fear-based conclusions aren't new to me, but there were some aspects of this book that I hadn't considered before or had but not in that way, which is always fun.

[alimary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a disappointing read for me, unfortunately. At many stages, I found myself growing tired of the constant stream of examples that Peckham uses to illustrate fear throughout the ages, as they followed an order that never quite seemed logical and always seemed surplus to requirement. Not only were these examples tiresome, but the content itself also suffered from a lack of interesting or new perspectives and often came across as biased and opinionated rather than allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions. This was particularly apparent in the constant comparisons between the so-called 'progressive Western democracies' and 'authoritarian' countries of Russia and China, which are presented with such obvious disdain that it's hard to take them seriously. China, in particular, is written about in a way that is hardly illuminating and more closely reflects Peckham's own frustrations and opinions regarding the country and its actions. Overall, there were some interesting anecdotes and arguments made throughout, but I found the book had overstayed its welcome by about halfway through and yearned for the end from that point on, only to find the epilogue even more disappointing, though it had the saving grace of being the last chapter I had to read.

[historic_chronicles · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is fear? Or rather, how is fear weaponised within the world as a tool for change, prosperity or even adversity?

Robert Peckham takes a period of around 700 years to explore history through the unique lens of fear. Perhaps with more emphasis on the last 150 years or so, the author considers the place of contemporary fear and many theories such the understanding of our fear to be linked to the ancient feeling of our forbearers.

Topics of great debate are investigated rigorously including capitalism, politics, discrimination, the rise in terrorism and the effects on environmentalism with the ever-present connection of fear suggested as a catalyst within governments across the world.

Deeply thought-provoking in nature, this work urges the reader to re-evaluate the position of fear as a device within society.

Peckham's narrative is smooth and easy to follow. He successfully takes an intricate philosophical topic that could have been too complex or overwhelming and made it accessible for the contemporary reader. An intensely fascinating read.

Thank you to @profile.books for so kindly offering me this book to review.

[Verity · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book packed with lots of too many surface-level case studies. Reading the book felt very much like skimming a hundred different Wikipedia pages, something which the author says this book is not in its introduction. And even though it trumps its vast array of 700 years worth of history, the vast majority is focused on the last century. I did enjoy its thematic structure, but this could have been so much more refined.
What I found the most disappointing was the lack of visual sources in a book which talks so very often about visual sources. Having a measly middle section with 10 at-random sources was nothing more than a cop-out to me.
The book's argument was undeveloped, generalised, and overall uninspiring. And it only seems to crop up in the introduction and the epilogue, and then disappears throughout the book - which is a testament to its importance and originality.
A very good premise for an exciting book and a commendable amount of research, but very disappointing in its execution.

[Sarah Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fear: An Alternative History of the World by Robert Peckham is an eye-opening exploration of the shadowy forces that have shaped human civilisation. Peckham takes us on a tour through time, from ancient pandemics to modern-day financial crises, showing how fear has been wielded as a tool of power and control. The breadth of research is staggering, weaving together history, politics, and psychology into a compelling narrative.

What I found most fascinating was how fear isn’t just a reaction but often a calculated response engineered by those in power to manipulate the masses. Peckham’s analysis of current global issues—like surveillance culture and the politics of fear—feels alarmingly relevant.

While at times dense with academic insight, Peckham’s storytelling makes the weighty topics accessible. It's a brilliant reminder of how understanding fear’s history might help us navigate our future. If you’re curious about the unseen drivers of human behaviour and global events, this is a must-read.

[Krystelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting (albeit reasonably short and struggling to cover the breadth of the topic involved) study of humanity, Fear puts forth an awful lot of facts but fails a bit when it comes to having a thesis to accompany them.

There is a certain level of intrigue in how we ended up where we ended up in terms of anxiety, terror, pandemics, war, and so many other contexts, and I will say one thing in this book’s favour is that it is meticulously researched. There’s references for days, and certainly an interesting collection of information to be looked into.

I do think it could have gone further with pulling everything together, and that there could have been a better examination of the events beyond playing them out. The chapter on 9/11, for instance, failed to contextualise the way that is altered the approach of generations to follow. We hear about the event, but not the following impact, which was a bit disappointing.

[Ant Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not all it promises, this is perhaps an ‘alternative history’, but it’s really not all that new a perspective on the history of the world. Nor is it a truly global history, centring Europe and Christianity as it does. Nor is it particularly full of insight on the nature of fear, or its relationship to other emotions or its varied role in cultures and societies across history. For such a heavy book, laden down with multitudes of references, and with deep drifts of endnotes, it’s a partial, selective, patchy, and frankly run of the mill rehash of history you’ll be familiar with already.

I did enjoy the tying together of renaissance philosophers in a possibly novel way, with the renaissance into enlightenment running into humanism and the America and French Revolutions, but it wasn’t a deep engagement with the ideas at play.

I’m giving it 3, but that was by far the highest score of my book group- most were 1 or less. This book isn’t ground breaking. Also it’s very long.

[Tsk Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sort of made a mistake with this book, reading it on my kindle, for convenience, while I normally prefer the tactile sense of holding a book for serious matters. But needs must. The book is a great summary of the western world (no nod to the Silk Roads) from one plague to another, The Black Death to Covid 19, interpreted through the common fear factor, notably for the aptly named Terror of the French Revolution. Is it a great reveal? No. Most readers will already know the basic outline. Is it an interesting book? Yes. And well written. But the underlying concept of the common fear factor running through history is undoubtedly true, but not unique and not solitary. So, I enjoyed it and a great memory jogger. It should be read alongside other history books as an added extra.

Calder Tsk – November 2024

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really a history of the world but rather an updated version of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds which takes the reader through different times in history when fear guided actions and political decisions. I would say that the books is more about power than about fear, but it is true that both are often intertwined. In any case, I think that the most interesting chapter is probably the last one, a post-pandemic reflection on the conflict between freedom and security. It can be read independently, so need to go over the rest of the book...

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am confused at what this book wanted to achieve. Its premise is that world history was driven by fear, which can be used both for good and for bad. And then it goes into a long litany of historical events that are connected in some way to fear. It is all very rapid fire and it quotes all sorts of sources, ranging from Greta Thurnberg and PragerU. And then it ends.
I was familiar with most of the events described, so I do not really feel I got a lot out of it. I would have preferred it if the author stuck to a few events, one-two per chapter and then proceeded to analyse them. Hell, you can write an entire book just based on fear during Stalinism.
Good start I guess if you want a super brief introduction to the topic.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed listening to this. I liked the analysis of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia and the contextualization of fear in an ecological narrative. It’s a fascinating book to listen to, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it merits the subtitle “an alternate history of the world.” Yes, the world might have been different if people weren’t so inclined to fear, but this book doesn’t propose any groundbreaking arguments. Thorough histories of all the major time periods he interrogates (The Black Death, The AIDS Epidemic, The Cold War, etc.) openly analyze fear as an aspect of their realities, so this is just a more focused view of what is already accepted to be a nuance of history. Would recommend, but should have known it would have an overly ambitious thesis when I saw Simon Schama gave it 5 stars.

;)