Books by Alison Winter

Picture your twenty-first birthday. Did you have a party? If so, do you remember who was there? Now step back: how clear are those memories? Are they hidden somewhere in your brain, or are they lost forever? This book shows that the answers have changed dramatically in just the past century.

Tracing the history of mesmerism, this text explores the contested territory between science and pseudoscience and society and science. Examining who was entranced, who did the entrancing, why it was so compelling and how it became equally powerful evidence of fraud and "unscientific" behaviour.