“Illuminates the many ways in which fear has shaped human behaviour over the past 700 years, from which readers can draw lessons for the present.”  The Economist

Meet Robert

 WRITER  | HISTORIAN  | ACADEMIC

Robert Peckham is the author of books and articles on the history of epidemics, science and technology, panic, colonialism, propaganda, the politics of heritage, nationalism, and art. His most recent book, Fear: An Alternative History of the World, published in 2023 (paperback 2024), explores how fear has shaped societies from the fourteenth century to the present, from Western Europe to Asia and beyond.  He is the founder of Open Cube, an organization that promotes the integration of the arts and humanities with the sciences and technology.  

Latest News

• Turkish edition of Fear: An Alternative History of the World published by Literatür (January 2025).
• Interview with Tomasz Targánski for the Polish magazine Polityka (January 2025).
• Review in Diario de Sevilla by Manuel Gregorio González, ‘Miedos del mundo moderno’ (January 2025).
• Review in ABC by César Antonio Molina, ‘Miedo de Robert Peckham: el terror puesto a día’ (December 2024).
• Review in Página|12 by Rodrigo Fresán, ‘Homo Miedoso’ (December 2024).
• Review in Hearsay, online journal of the Bar Association of Queensland, by Stephen Keim (December 2024).
• Polish edition of Fear: An Alternative History of the World published by Znak in a translation by Aleksandra Ożarowska (November 2024).
• Interview with James Hanson on Times Radio (September 2024).
• Fear chosen by The Guardian as one of the month’s best paperbacks (September 2024).
• Interviewed by Fèlix Badia for La Vanguardia, ‘La Revolución Industrial desató los mismos miedos a la tecnología que hoy’ (August 2024).
• Interview with Martina Saltamacchia for Nuova Atlantide, the international quarterly publication of the Italian think tank Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà (August 2024).
• Review in Zenda by Fran Navarro, ‘El motor de la historia es el miedo’ (July 2024).
• Review in The Objective by Rafael Núnez Florencio, ‘¿Se ha convertido el miedo en el motor de la Historia?’(July 2024).
• Interview with Rebecca Yanke in El Mundo (May 2024). 
• Spanish edition of Fear  translated by Pablo Hermida Lazcano published by Ediciones Paidós (April 2024). 
• Talk at the Oxford Literary Festival (March 2024).
• Tom Etherington’s cover for Fear shortlisted for the ABCD best British non-fiction cover design of the year award (March 2024).
• Interview with Anthony Funnell on ABC Radio National’s Future Tense (March 2024).
• Interview with Marit Eriksdatter Gjellan for the Norwegian podcast Diving Deep (February 2024).
• Interview with Jumoké Fashola on BBC Radio London (December 2023).
• Review of Fear in the Dutch newspaper NRC (December 2023).
• Review of Fear by Nik Durga in the New Zealand Listener (November 2023).
• Interview with Jonathan Wai in Psychology Today (November 2023).
• Interview with William Coldwell in The Observer (October 2023).
• Interview with Murray La Vita in South Africa’s Netwerk24 (October 2023).
• Interview with Neil Denny on the Little Atoms podcast (October 2023).
• Discussion with Alex Andreou on The Bunker podcast (October 2023).
• Interview with Vikas Shah for Thought Economics (October 2023).
• Interview on Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon (October 2023).
• Discussion with Sophie McBain, Associate Editor for the New Statesman, on the Intelligence Squared podcast (October 2023).
• Discussion with historian Kate Lister on the History Hit podcast, Betwixt the Sheets (September 2023).
• Interview on the BBC’s podcast History Extra (September 2023).
• Interview on RTÉ Radio 1, The Business with Richard Curran (September 2023).
• Fear: An Alternative History of the World was included in Martin Chilton’s “biggest new books” for September 2023 in The Independent, alongside Zadie Smith and Sebastian Faulks.

Coming Soon

• Book reading at Desperate Literature, Madrid (February 2025).
• Speaker at VIII Foro de la Cultura, Valladolid and Madrid, Spain (February 2025).
• Japanese edition of Fear: An Alternative History of the World coming out (March 2025).
• Featured writer, Backstory. Non-Fiction Book Club (March 2025).
• Fear: An Alternative History of the World will be coming out in Arabic and published by the Arabic Cultural Center (ACC), Markaz Takafi Arabi, a publishing house founded in 1981 and based in Casablanca, Morocco.