A History of Delusions

ebook The Glass King, a Substitute Husband and a Walking Corpse

By Victoria Shepherd

cover image of A History of Delusions

Sign up to save your library

With an OverDrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for at-a-glance information about availability. Find out more about OverDrive accounts.

   Not today

Find this title in Libby, the library reading app by OverDrive.

Download Libby on the App Store Download Libby on Google Play

Search for a digital library with this title

Title found at these libraries:

Library Name Distance
Loading...
A curious history of the strange, wonderful and sometimes terrifying worlds created by our minds.

'An utterly engrossing book.' ZOE WILLIAMS

For centuries we've dismissed delusions as something for doctors to sort out behind locked doors. But delusions are more than just bizarre quirks – they hold the key to collective anxieties and traumas.

In this groundbreaking history, Victoria Shepherd uncovers stories of delusions from medieval times to the present day and implores us to identify reason in apparent madness.
  • Discover how the King of France – thinking he was made of glass – was terrified he might shatter... and he wasn't alone...
  • Uncover the peculiar case of the dozens of Victorian women who tried to convince their physicians that they were, in fact, dead.
  • And learn how after the Emperor met his end at the Battle of Waterloo, an epidemic of 'Napoleons' piled into France's asylums.
  • A History of Delusions