Stearns, one of the first American voices in the history of emotions, has written a courageous book. It is courageous for two reasons: First, it covers a vast and comprehensive subject, the history of shame, and, second, it does so in a mere 134-page text (followed by a 30-page bibliography). Given his suggestion at the outset that shame has to be explored in an interdisciplinary context, Stearns introduces his readers to how contemporary psychologists think about shame (as opposed to guilt). As a social historian, however, he criticizes the dominant approach to shame as a “self-conscious” emotion for its ignorance of social components. Furthermore, he questions the claim that shame is on the decline in contemporary societies.
Stearns’ main argument is that shame has been “ubiquitous” throughout history and only recently has it lost any of its appeal, if at all. As long as people lived in premodern or agricultural...