Product Description

The author of "The French", "Happiness" and "A History of French Passions" writes about the history of human feelings, habits, emotions and perceptions across time. From Vikings and Aztecs to contemporary hypochondriacs, from ancient Arab writings to American theories of business management, Zeldin looks at the dilemmas of ordinary life, exploring what makes us most human - the intimate experience of men and women through the ages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118871 in Books
• Published on: 1995-09-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 493 pages

Customer Reviews

Food for thought
I endorse Cassini24's review and would add the following comments.

Zeldin tends towards sweeping statements. When he touches on subjects I know about he is sometimes (a) not quite right (b) misleading or (c) wrong. This makes me wonder whether the same applies to matters upon which I cannot make a judgment of my own. It makes me reluctant to take him on trust.

The case studies that begin each chapter often have little discernable relationship to the analysis that follows. The people appear selected to meet Zeldin's agenda. They tend to be high or low achievers (personally, work-wise or artistically) whereas a representative sample would surely have produced more middle ground.

But ultimately you don't have to agree with such conclusions as Zeldin reaches and I suspect that is not the point. There are interesting insights and from previous reviews some readers have obviously taken a lot from the book. Any book that produces food for thought can't be all bad. But I find it difficult to see how this can be a five star read.

A book that can clear the fog in many minds.
This is a brilliant piece of writing that inspite of drawing from so many sources does not loose its focus nor does it get burdened by any academic jargons. A book that can be returned to again and again for a clearer view of our own minds and of those around us. I feel compelled to compare it to a "Sophie's World" for adults. The many "intimate histories" could actually be turned into brilliant cinema stories/scripts. It was a book I have been looking for all my life I think.

Brilliant and unique!
I took the book off the shelf in the book shop, opened it somewhere in the middle to read a few sentences and was hooked. The wealth of his learning is amazing, the way he weaves together different disciplines, civilisations, ideas and ages is very eloquent and beautifully executed. He tells the story of History by telling a lot of little histories. It is a very unique and a very thought provoking book. The non-fiction book coming closest to Zeldin's masterpiece probably is "Guns, germs and civilizations" and in fiction the Gore Vidals "Creation"