We all experience fears, whether mild or severe, that crystallize our anxieties and aggressive behaviors towards a specific object or situation.

Certain characteristic fears are considered normal during childhood - the fear of the dark, of wild animals, of all kinds of intruders. Ivan Ward addresses the various interpretations of phobia.

Using examples from common experiences, horror stories, Alfred Hitchcock films, as well as from the history of racism, this book illuminates the nightmarish world of phobic phenomena at both the individual and societal levels.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]