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Obsession: A History
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Obsession: A History Hardcover - 2008 - 1st Edition

by Lennard J. Davis


From the publisher

We live in an age of obsession. Not only are we hopelessly devoted to our work, strangely addicted to our favorite television shows, and desperately impassioned about our cars, we admire obsession in others: we demand that lovers be infatuated with one another in films, we respond to the passion of single-minded musicians, we cheer on driven athletes. To be obsessive is to be American; to be obsessive is to be modern.

But obsession is not only a phenomenon of modern existence: it is a medical category-both a pathology and a goal. Behind this paradox lies a fascinating history, which Lennard J. Davis tells in Obsession. Beginning with the roots of the disease in demonic possession and its secular successors, Davis traces the evolution of obsessive behavior from a social and religious fact of life into a medical and psychiatric problem. From obsessive aspects of professional specialization to obsessive compulsive disorder and nymphomania, no variety of obsession eludes Davis's graceful analysis.

Details

  • Title Obsession: A History
  • Author Lennard J. Davis
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 296
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press, Chicago
  • Date 2008-11-01
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780226137827 / 0226137821
  • Weight 1.3 lbs (0.59 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.22 x 6.46 x 1.03 in (23.42 x 16.41 x 2.62 cm)
  • Themes
    • Holiday: Christmas
  • Library of Congress subjects Compulsive behavior, Obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2008014361
  • Dewey Decimal Code 616.852

Media reviews

Citations

  • Choice, 07/01/2009, Page 0
  • Kirkus Reviews, 09/01/2008, Page 925
  • Library Journal, 09/15/2008, Page 77
  • Publishers Weekly, 09/08/2008, Page 45
  • Village Voice, 10/22/2008, Page 16

About the author

Lennard J. Davis is professor in the Departments of English, Disability and Human Development, and Medical Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the author of The Disability Studies Reader, among other books.
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Obsession: A History
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Obsession: A History

by Davis, Lennard J.

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Hardback. New. We live in an age of obsession. But obsession is not only a phenomenon of modern existence: it is a medical category. Beginning with the roots of the disease in demonic possession and its secular successors, this work traces the evolution of obsessive behavior from a social and religious fact of life into a medical and psychiatric problem.
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