A History of Delusions: The Glass King, a Substitute Husband and a Walking Corpse [Paperback]

The extraordinary ways the brain can misfire

A curious history of the strange, wonderful and sometimes terrifying worlds created by our minds.

‘An utterly engrossing book.' ZOE WILLIAMS

For centuries we’ve dismissed delusions as something for doctors to sort out behind locked doors. But delusions are more than just bizarre quirks – they hold the key to collective anxieties and traumas.

In this groundbreaking history, Victoria Shepherd uncovers stories of delusions from medieval times to the present day and implores us to identify reason in apparent madness.

• Discover how the King of France – thinking he was made of glass – was terrified he might shatter... and he wasn’t alone...
• Uncover the peculiar case of the dozens of Victorian women who tried to convince their physicians that they were, in fact, dead.
• And learn how after the Emperor met his end at the Battle of Waterloo, an epidemic of 'Napoleons' piled into France’s asylums.

Victoria Shepherdconceived and produced the ten-part seriesA History of Delusionsfor BBC Radio 4. She has produced scores of documentaries and major strands for BBC Radio 4. She holds an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia.‘A varied and thought-provoking journey.’‘Fascinating and compassionate.’‘Riveting case histories grounded in context and narrated with novelistic verve and impressive authority.’‘An utterly engrossing book. It reaches through layers of mania and the distance of centuries to connect you completely to its subjects, such that you miss them when they're gone.’‘Meticulously researched… this is a good time to take delusions seriously.’'A humane and thoughtful account.'‘This absorbing study… Shepherd goes beyond formal, detached accounts by physicians, trying instead tolÝ