Writing the History of Emotions

Emotions make history, and they have a history. They influence historical events such as revolutions, riots, and protest movements. At the same time, they are shaped by historical experiences tied to family upbringing, educational and cultural institutions, work, and the home.

Writing the History of Emotions shows how emotions like love, trust, honour, pride, shame, empathy, and greed have impacted historical change since the 18th century and were themselves dependent on social, political, and economic environments. Importantly, this book provides a timely exploration of racialised, gendered, class-based notions of emotions. This exciting addition to Bloomsbury’s successful Writing History series analyses how emotions matter in and to history, and how they are themselves objects of history.

Here, leading scholar Ute Frevert eschews a traditional chronological history of emotions in favour of an innovative collection which transgresses time periods to illustrate the different emotional meanings one particular material object has had throughout history. This book sheds light on how emotions have been used, instrumentalised, and manipulated both to propel and suspend democratic politics. In doing so, it opens a rich new avenue of research for the history of emotions.