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Agnes Arnold-Forster

Writer and Historian, London, UK

Agnes Arnold-Forster is a writer and historian. She is the author of The Cancer Problem (OUP, 2021) and Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion (Picador, 2024), and her writing has appeared in publications including The Washington Post, the TLS, and History Today. She lives in London, UK.

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Written by Agnes Arnold-Forster

A painting depicts three children dressed in old-fashioned clothing walking through a field of wildflowers at dusk. Two older children, one wearing a large brimmed hat, lead a younger child by the hand. The background shows a line of trees against a cloudy sky with a hint of sunset.

History of psychology and psychiatry

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In psychoanalysis, nostalgia was a sickness. It needn’t be

Nostalgia was, in Freud’s day, an illness steeped in the past. Today, it can be a joyful emotion that reframes the future

by Agnes Arnold-Forster

A surgeon in blue scrubs and a mask walks through a hospital corridor, with surgical equipment on a table and cabinets visible through a window.

Work and vocation

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The idea of a ‘surgeon’s personality’ won’t fix the profession

What can explain why surgeons are leaving the profession in their droves? Clue: it’s not a failure of their personality

by Agnes Arnold-Forster