Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion

'Absorbing' - The Guardian
'Illuminating' - Vogue
'Fascinating' - Pandora Sykes

In Nostalgia, historian Agnes Arnold-Forster blends neuroscience and psychology with the history of medicine and emotions to explore the evolution of nostalgia from 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).

It is a fascinating, compelling story of a social and political emotion, vulnerable to misuse, and one that reflects the anxieties of the age. 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.

'Beautifully compact, wide-ranging and enjoyable' - TLS

Author: Agnes Arnold-Forster
Publisher: Picador UK
Published: 06/17/2025
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.47lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.32w x 0.49d
ISBN13: 9781529091397
ISBN10: 152909139X
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Disease & Health Issues
- History | Modern | 20th Century | General
- Social Science | Slavery

About the Author
Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster is a historian at the University of Edinburgh. She has also worked at McGill University, King's College London, UCL, and at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary University of London. She is the author of two academic books, one about cancer and the other about surgery, and has written widely for academic, medical and mainstream outlets. She has also appeared on BBC Radio and TV, consulted for television dramas and documentaries, and worked closely with the Science Museum, the Wellcome Collection and the Royal College of Nursing. She lives in London.