The Society of Timid Souls: Or, How to be Brave - Hardcover

A dazzling synthesis of reportage, moral philosophy and memoir, Polly Morland's anatomy of courage moves effortlessly from the bullring and the battlefield to the concert hall and the maternity ward. Searching, startling and richly humane, this is the kind of book that reads you as you read it. A great achievement -- Matthew Sweet I have decided - a deep breath - to call The Society of Timid Souls together once more. If you would care to join me, then perhaps together we can work out how to be brave. I intend to discover a little of what it means - what it really means - to be brave. So it is that I have done, for me, a rather bold thing. I have quit my job and I have packed a notebook. Now come with me. I will be scared to go alone. -- Polly Morland Using her documentarian's eye, Polly Morland has written a moving and deeply personal book; an examination of courage brimming with humanity -- Amanda Foreman Polly Morland has written a beautiful and extremely moving book about the quintessentially human trait of bravery. A widely recognized concept that almost no one really understands, bravery has long needed a serious exploration like The Society of Timid Souls. It is gorgeously written, deeply felt, and sharply researched. This is one of the few books I know that leaves me literally grateful to the writer for doing the work they do. I loved it. -- Sebastian Junger Fascinating ... Morland's philosophical, extremely well-written book suggests that while some people - bullfighters, soldiers, tightrope walkers - are obviously wired to relish dangerous lives, the timid rest of us may be braver than we think. -- John Harding * Daily Mail *

In 1942, a pianist from Manhattan convened the inaugural meeting of an extraordinary new fraternity, which promised to inoculate stage fright sufferers against the terrors that afflicted them. The venture, which coincided with the terrifying height of World War Two, was an astonishing success. They called it The Society of Timid Souls. Seventy years later, as anxiety levels reaches pandemic proportions, courage has become a virtue in crisis. We are all Timid Souls now. So Polly Morland reconvenes the Society for a new era, and sets out on a fact-finding mission. From the woman who performed her own caesarean section, to the surfer who took on a murderous sea, by way of freedom fighters, public speakers and emergency services workers, she seeks the truth about what courage today really means and how it comes about. From frontline to skyscraper, from mountain peak to suburban street, the journey takes in philosophy, literature, propaganda and popular culture, as Morland weaves together a modern anatomy of an age-old virtue, in order to discover how a Timid Soul may become a brave one.