A History of Terror: Fear and Dread Through the Ages by Paul Newman

An illustrated social history, from prehistoric terror of ancestral spirits down to existential angst a la J-P Sartre and dread of alien kidnapping. Throughout history, humankind has been aware of entering into an existence from which we strive to obtain the greatest degree of fulfilment and happiness. Yet beneath the surface there lurks a prowling sense of unease, often impossible to articulate, that surfaces in different ways. In Neolithic times it might have expressed itself in the fear of ancestral spirits returning to plague or contaminate the living; in later periods it has assumed many shapes - rage against Satan and witchcraft, fear of mortality, schizophrenia, mass panic, the dread of living in a meaningless universe.