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Strangers and Intimates
Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life | Tiffany Jenkins
1 post | 1 read
'Brilliantly original . . . endlessly fascinating and full of surprises' – Alice Loxton, author of Eighteen 'An intricate cultural history . . . thought-provoking' - The Sunday Times 'A nuanced, thoughtful history of this slippery concept' – Kate Fox, author of Watching the English A Financial Times 'What to Read in 2025' Book From ancient times to our digital present, Strangers and Intimates traces the dramatic emergence of private life, and argues that it is now in mortal danger. In this sweeping history, acclaimed cultural historian Tiffany Jenkins takes readers on an epic journey, from the strict separations of public and private in ancient Athens to the moral rigidity of the Victorian home, and from the feminists of the 1970s who declared that ‘the personal is political’ to the boundary-blurring demands of our digital age. Strangers and Intimates is both a celebration of the private realm and a warning: as social media, surveillance and the expectations of constant openness reshape our lives, Jenkins asks a timely question: can private life survive the demands of the twenty-first century?
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n earlier times, life was a lot more communal than it is today, & the concept of a private life didn't really exist in a balanced way. This is an examination of the concept', those who helped shape it, & how it came into being from its initial start in the Reformation, through the 17th & 18th centuries & Sir Edward Coke (who was responsible for the saying 'An Englishman's home is his castle') through to supporters of women's rights (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf including Mary Astell, Mary Wollstonecraft, & John Stuart Mill in the 19th century. Today the ownership of one's image & the 21st century has brought forth new questions about privacy & the public space.

This was both an interesting & thought-provoking read. I especially enjoyed the historical chapters but found myself a little less engrossed as we neared modern day. The argument that privacy was historically looked on as a way to hide things
3w
OutsmartYourShelf from others rather than being a retreat from the outside world was intriguing & it shows how much society has changed & mainly uncoupled from religious influence in England. Well-researched & well-written, I recommend this if you like challenging reads. 4🌟

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Pan Macmillan/Picador, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7254294359
Read 14th-17th May 2025
3w
DieAReader 💖💖💖 3w
Andrew65 Excellent 🎉🎉🎉 2w
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