Contextual Lecture: The History of Anger in Europe
“Look into our histories,” wrote the Renaissance scholar Robert Burton, “and you shall almost meet with no other subject but what a company of hare-brains have done in their rage." In this lecture, historian of emotions Thomas Dixon asks how true this is of modern European and British history, taking a wide range of historical examples of political anger from the French Revolution to Brexit.
Thomas Dixon is Professor of History at Queen Mary University of London, where he directs the Centre for the History of the Emotions. His books include Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears and Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction. He has written and presented programmes for BBC Radio on the histories of friendship and tears.