Joanna Bourke is a historian and professor of history, whose work delves into social and cultural history. Her writings explore how individuals experienced and interpreted violence, poverty, and wartime. She critically examines narratives of suffering, emphasizing lived human experiences during difficult times. Bourke's approach is characterized by deep archival research and meticulous analysis of historical sources.
The book offers a vibrant historical account of Birkbeck, University of London, highlighting its evolution over 200 years from a time when educated working people were frowned upon to its current status. Joanna Bourke explores the institution's significant role in transforming British higher education, reflecting on its impact and contributions throughout history.
The first truly global history of sexual violence, by acclaimed historian Joanna Bourke.
Renowned historian Joanna Bourke explores the modern history of bestiality.
Wars are frequently justified 'in our name'. Militarist values and practices co-opt us, permeating our language, invading our dream space, entertaining us at the movies or in front of game consoles. Our taxes pay for those war machines. Our loved ones are killed and maimed. With killing now an integral part of the entertainment industry in video games and Hollywood films, war has become mainstream.
Everyone knows what it feels like to be in pain. Scraped knees, toothaches, migraines, giving birth, cancer, heart attacks, and heartaches: pain permeates our entire lives. We also witness other people - loved ones - suffering, and we 'feel with' them. It is easy to assume this is the end of the story: 'pain-is-pain-is-pain', and that is all there is to say. But it is not. In fact, the way in which people respond to what they describe as 'painful' has changed considerably over time. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for example, people believed that pain served a specific (and positive) function - it was a message from God or Nature; it would perfect the spirit. 'Suffer in this life and you wouldn't suffer in the next one'. Submission to pain was required. Nothing could be more removed from twentieth and twenty-first century understandings, where pain is regarded as an unremitting evil to be 'fought'. Focusing on the English-speaking world, this book tells the story of pain since the eighteenth century, addressing fundamental questions about the experience and nature of suffering over the last three centuries. How have those in pain interpreted their suffering - and how have these interpretations changed over time? How have people learnt to conduct themselves when suffering? How do friends and family react? And what about medical professionals: should they immerse themselves in the suffering person or is the best response a kind of professional detachment? As Joanna Bourke shows in this fascinating investigation, people have come up with many different answers to these questions over time. And a history of pain can tell us a great deal about how we might respond to our own suffering in the present - and, just as importantly, to the suffering of those around us. -- Provided by publisher
The book offers a refreshing approach to scholarly writing, steering clear of dense academic jargon. It combines liveliness with intellectual challenges, making the reading experience both engaging and rewarding.
A fascinating, thought-provoking book on the emotive subject of rape from the highly acclaimed author of 'Fear'
An atmosphere of fear characterizes modern culture, particularly in America, where daily life is influenced by a color-coded threat system. The media amplifies this sense of dread, with news focusing on the climate crisis, alarming alerts, and reports of violence. This pervasive fear shapes societal behavior and perceptions, highlighting the urgent need to address these issues.
The characteristic act of men at war is not dying, but killing. Politicians and military historians may gloss over human slaughter, emphasizing the defense of national honor, but for men in active service, warfare means being - or becoming - efficient killers. In An Intimate History of Killing, historian Joanna Bourke asks: What are the social and psychological dynamics of becoming the best ”citizen soldiers?” What kind of men become the best killers? How do they readjust to civilian life?These questions are answered in this groundbreaking new work that won, while still in manuscript, the Fraenkel Prize for Contemporary History. Excerpting from letters, diaries, memoirs, and reports of British, American, and Australian veterans of three wars (World War I, World War II, and Vietnam), Bourke concludes that the structure of war encourages pleasure in killing and that perfectly ordinary, gentle human beings can, and often do, become enthusiastic killers without being brutalized.This graphic, unromanticized look at men at war is sure to revise many long-held beliefs about the nature of violence.