It's been said that, after 9/11, the 2008 financial crash and the Covid-19 pandemic, we're a more fearful society than ever before. Yet fear, and the panic it produces, have long been driving forces - perhaps the driving force - of world history: fear of God, of famine, war, disease, poverty, and other people. In 'Fear', Robert Peckham considers the impact of fear in history, as both a coercive tool of power and as a catalyst for social change.