A Cultural History of the Emotions

Across six volumes, A Cultural History of the Emotions explores how emotions have changed over the course of human history, but also also how emotions have themselves created and changed history. Emotions underpin our everyday lives and shape our mental, physical and social well-being. This collection shows how emotions can offer a unique insight into the historical thought and function of different societies.

Each volume in the series encompasses interdisciplinary work on the emotions, covering the medical, scientific, religious and intellectual history, how they have been performed and represented and how they were enacted in social practices on both a personal and public level. The same eight themes are addressed in all six volumes:

1. Medical and Scientific Understandings
2. Religion and Spirituality
3. Music and Dance
4. Drama
5. The Visual Arts
6. Literature
7. In Private: The Individual and the Domestic Community
8. In Public: Collectivities and Polities

A Cultural History of the Emotions is the first comprehensive, period by period overview of this fascinating topic, from antiquity to the present day. It will be essential reading for anyone researching or studying the emotions.

Susan Broomhall is Professor of History at the University of Western Australia, Australia.

Jane Davidson is Professor of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Andrew Lynch is Professor of English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia, Australia.