From ancient times to our digital present, Strangers and Intimates traces the dramatic emergence of private life, uncovering how it became a protected domain, cherished as a space for intimacy, self-discovery and freedom. In this sweeping history, Tiffany Jenkins, an acclaimed cultural historian, 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, are we in danger of losing a part of ourselves? Jenkins reveals how privacy shaped the modern world and why it remains crucial for our personal and collective freedom – and why this freedom is now in mortal danger. Her key argument is that Big Tech did NOT kill private life.
Today, as we share more than ever before and digital surveillance watches our every move, Jenkins asks a timely question: can private life survive the demands of the twenty-first century?
A Financial Times ‘What to read in 2025’ book
‘From Thomas More and Oliver Cromwell to Jennicam, Big Brother and Monica Lewinsky, Dr Jenkins charts the changing boundaries between public and private life. One of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read in years.’
– Adrian Tinniswood, author of The Power and the Glory
‘Brilliantly original . . . an epic journey through the ages, which is endlessly fascinating and full of surprises’
– Alice Loxton, author of 18
‘Amidst all the current narrow technological determinism, it is refreshing – and empowering – to read such a nuanced, thoughtful history of this slippery concept’
– Kate Fox, author of Watching the English
‘From Tudor Treason Trials to Monica Lewinsky and beyond, this book brilliantly deploys the author’s deep knowledge of literature, political ideas, as well as the history of law and of leisure . . . a tour de force.’
— David Abulafia, author of The Boundless Sea
‘Essential reading for all those seeking to understand the dynamics of the current privacy crisis, and why it matters that solutions are found’
— David Vincent, author of A History of Solitude