The Sensational Past

How the Enlightenment Changed the Way We Use Our Senses

Carolyn Purnell

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Hardback

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English

Norton
10 March 2017

History; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; Social & cultural history; Philosophy of mind; Cognition & cognitive psychology

"Blindfolding children from birth. Playing a piano made of live cats. Using tobacco to cure drowning. Wearing ""flea""-coloured clothes. These actions seem odd to us but in the eighteenth century they made sense. As Carolyn Purnell persuasively shows, while our bodies may not change dramatically, the way we think about the senses and put them to use has been rather different over the ages. Journeying through the past three hundred years, Purnell explores how people used their senses in ways that might shock now. Using culinary history, fashion, medicine, music and many other aspects of Enlightenment life, she demonstrates that, even though we may be human, over time we have used our senses in very different ways. In this clever, witty work, Purnell reminds us of the value of daily life and the power of the smallest aspects of existence."

By: Carolyn Purnell
Imprint: Norton
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 218mm, Width: 150mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 359g
ISBN: 9780393249378
ISBN 10: 0393249379
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 10 March 2017
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Carolyn Purnell received her PhD from the University of Chicago. She is a history instructor, an interior design writer, and a lover of bizarre facts. This is her first book.

Reviews for The Sensational Past: How the Enlightenment Changed the Way We Use Our Senses

Carolyn Purnell's insightful survey of the ways Enlightenment thinkers made sense of their world offers exciting new perspectives on how we see, smell, hear, taste, and touch our own. As entertaining as it enlightening, The Sensational Past is a dazzling debut by a talented young historian. -- Peter S. Onuf, author of The Mind of Thomas Jefferson No other history of the Enlightenment is quite like this one! Brilliant insights about the past are juxtaposed with wry comments about how we think today. By finding compelling human-interest stories involving real people, Purnell produces a book that is at once entertaining, erudite, and original. -- Gary Kates, professor of history at Pomona College and author of Monsieur d'Eon Is a Woman