Be afraid, very afraid

British historian explores how much fear has been - and will continue to be - a fundamental driver in society.

- NIK DIRGA

Fear is all around us. It was a key weapon in the recent election, where hoardings on every street corner warned of the consequences of letting any of the others take power. During the Covid-19 pandemic, just the mere proximity of other people was enough to invoke fear. Even the act of looking at the news on your phone is often called "doom-scrolling". In the 24-7 digital news world, fear is fuel.

British writer Robert Peckham tries to weave an all-encompassing history presenting fear as a prime motivator in our past, present and future, from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to the Trump era.

Although it falls a little short of being definitive, it's a sweeping and thought-provoking look at how things we're afraid of help shape the world around us, be it in war, politics, health or finance.

Peckham shows that fear comes in many distinct flavours: simmering anxiety, sweaty panic, jittery phobias, angry rage. It has been a tool for kings and dictators, a spark to light revolutions.

The Catholic Church ruled for centuries through threats of eternal damnation that promised fear spanning far beyond life itself, until the Black Death and the Reformation loosened its grip. Bloodsoaked events like the French Revolution, slavery and colonisation often relied on fear to further power - or destroy it.