Joanna Bourke is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is the prize-winning author of nine books, including histories of modern warfare, military medicine, psychology and psychiatry, the emotions, and rape. Among others, she is the author of Dismembering the Male: Men'sBodies, Britain, and the Great War (1996), An Intimate History of Killing (1999), Fear: A Cultural History (2005) and Rape: A History from 1860 to the Present (2007), and What it Means to be Human: Reflections from 1791 to the Present (2011). An Intimate History of Killing won the Wolfson Prize and the Fraenkel Prize, and 'Eyewitness', her audio history of Britain, won a number of prizes, including the Gold for the Most Original Audio. She is also a frequent contributor to TV and radio shows, and a regular newspaper correspondent.
`Erudite and witty ... Joanna Bourke is that rare bird, an academic who manages to combine erudite scholarship with a sharp wit and an accessible prose style. This is a bold and impressive book about an enemy that knows no historical or cultural bounds.' Salley Vickers, The Observer `[A] riveting study, which feels timely and important.' Max Liu, The Independent `The Story of Pain shines valuable light into a universal experience.' Nicholas Shakespeare, The Daily Telegraph `The Story of Pain conveys sensations with wincing precision and an admirable humanity.' Simon Ings, New Scientist `Ambitious and original.' Jonathan Ree, the guardian `Enthralling.' Jim Young, Glycosmedia `A book that deserves wide readership.' Church of England newspaper `Joanna Bourke has drawn a fascinating picture of pain from a very broad perspective both in terms of time and in the sources she uses. We see how attitudes to pain have changed over the centuries and how our modern technological advances are again changing how we communicate pain and its suffering. Are we less courageous when dealing with pain than our ancestors were? asks Joanna Bourke. Astonishing what I have learnt about pain from a historian, which will be of value in my clinical work. An absorbing and thought provoking book, a must read for pain physicians.' Professor Joanna Zakrzewska, UCL