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Mesmerized

Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain

Alison Winter author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Mesmerized cover

Thousands of men and women all across Britain in the Victorian age were being mesmerized, twisted into bizarre postures and speaking out in unknown languages, and the Victorians were literally entranced with this phenomenon. The text focuses on mesmerism: who was entranced, who did the entrancing, why mesmerism was such a compelling experience to so many and how it became equally powerful evidence of fraud and "unscientific" behaviour to many others. It illuminates dark areas of the relationship between science and society, allowing the assessment of the role of authority in particular social contexts: who draws the line between the bogus and the authentic and how is the boundary maintained? More fundamentally, what is the nature of the powers that wield, and the influences that bind humans together in a social body?

  • Winner of North American Council on British Studies British Council Prize 1999

ISBN: 9780226902234

Dimensions: 23mm x 16mm x 3mm

Weight: 680g

480 pages