Hystories - Hardcover

"A spirited Freudo-literary analysis of what she calls hysterical epidemics and what social scientists call emotional contagions or mass psychogenic illnesses. Her six examples are chronic fatigue syndrome, gulf war syndrome, recovered memories of sexual abuse, multiple personality disorder, satanic ritual abuse and alien abduction. She knows full well that throwing the first three into the mix will 'infuriate thousands of people who believe they are suffering from unidentified organic disorders or the after-effects of trauma.' She braves not only their wrath, but also that of the feminist therapists and writers whose 'credulous endorsements of recovered memory and satanic abuse' have contributed to these epidemics. This attitude alone is worth the price of the book." -- "New York Times Book Review"

"A thought-provoking book for informed readers." -- "Library Journal"

"Showalter carries her reader along an illuminating gallop through the history of hysteria... Psychological ills, Showalter believes, must be accorded the same respect as physical ones. Her basic argument should offer solace. If our epidemics are stories of sorts, they should be listened to carefully. The stories we tell say a lot about our fantasies, our fears, and our preoccupations." -- "Time"

Controversial analysis of hysteria in all its modern forms
Hysteria has traditionally been seen as female territory but in this pertinent and lucid book Elaine Showalter argues that it is a disease that is universal. Hysterical disorders, far from dying out with the end of Victorian sexual repression, have in fact flooded the media in the 1980s and 1990s. From Gulf War syndrome to Satanic ritual abuse, these epidemics of psychogenic disease and memory have much to tell us about the anxieties of Western culture. Elaine Showalter's piercing study has provoked controversy all over the world and has opened a debate that will continue to intensify as the millenium draws near. "Daring and provocative" Indpendent; "An exhilarating book which lobs politically incorrect cocktails in all directions" Financial Times; "Groundbreaking...this is undoubtedly a brave book and one which should be welcomed for generating arguments which so far have been silenced" Scotland on Sunday; "Considered and level-headed" Daily Telegraph; "This is a brave book, not only because it dares to question feminist orthodoxies, but also because it reminds us that feminism's purpose is the investigation of truth, not the perpetuation of blame" Erica Jong, Observer