'Brilliantly original . . . endlessly fascinating' – Alice Loxton, author of Eighteen
'An intricate cultural history . . . thought-provoking' - The Sunday Times
'A nuanced, thoughtful history' – Kate Fox, author of Watching the English
A Financial Times 'What to Read in 2025' Book
From ancient times to our digital present, Strangers and Intimates traces the dramatic emergence of private life, and argues that it is now in mortal danger.
In this sweeping history, acclaimed cultural historian Tiffany Jenkins takes readers on an epic journey, from the strict separations of public and private in ancient Athens to the moral rigidity of the Victorian home, and from the feminists of the 1970s who declared that 'the personal is political' to the boundary-blurring demands of our digital age.
Strangers and Intimates is both a celebration of the private realm and a warning: as social media, surveillance and the expectations of constant openness reshape our lives, Jenkins asks a timely question: can private life survive the demands of the twenty-first century? A brilliantly original history of privacy with a simple and urgent argument: private life is a precious and sustaining resource that must be defended. Dr Tiffany Jenkins is a writer, cultural historian and broadcaster. She is the author of the acclaimed Keeping Their Marbles: How Treasures of the Past Ended Up in Museums and Why They Should Stay There. She's a former honorary fellow in the History of Art at the University of Edinburgh and a former visiting fellow in the Department of Law at the London School of Economics. She wrote and presented the BBC Radio 4 series 'A History of Secrecy' and 'Contracts of Silence', about the rise of non-disclosure agreements, and has appeared regularly as a critic on Saturday Review and Front Row. Her opinion pieces have appeared in The Guardian, The Observer, the Financial Times, the Scotsman and The Spectator. She is a trustee of the British Museum and divides her time between London and Sussex. Strangers and Intimates is her third book.
"Compelling . . . This is the sort of history book that makes you look at all history anew'"
New Scientist
"Jenkins's history of private life is more urgent than ever . . . Lucid and elegant"
Telegraph
"A brilliantly original line of investigation, taking the reader on an epic journey through the ages . . . endlessly fascinating and full of surprises"
