Knowing Pain A History of Sensation, Emotion, and Experience

"How can we know the pain of others? If we have no access to their suffering, how can we hope to alleviate it? By an astute and complex analysis of the ways people experienced distress in the past and continue to do so in the present, Rob Boddice reflects on such questions. It will change the way we think about pain."
Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck, University of London
"Boddice illuminates the history of pain, one of the most fundamental biological mechanisms and cultural experiences of humankind. It is a rich history of the experience of pain, but also a history of its different conceptualizations, our ways of studying it, and its social dimensions. This is a book that will captivate scholars and scientists across disciplines."
Manos Tsakiris, Royal Holloway, University of London
 
"ambitious history of pain"
Nature
 
"This is an extraordinary book."
Social History of Medicine