Context is Everything: The Nature of Memory

This text explores how factors such as the place, company, purpose and situation can profoundly affect the essence and experience of a memory. Blending anecdotes with the findings of memory research, Engel examines the implications of context and purpose for memory, includng the motivation to remember and the strength or quality of the memory itself.

Table of Contents:
From private to public - the transformation of memories; intimate exchanges - memories in conversation; courtrooms and therapy; then and now - creating a self through the past; remembering in print; when memories became history.

About the Author :
Susan Engel is a lecturer in psychology and director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. She is also the author of "The Stories Children Tell: Making Sense of the Narratives of Childhood."

Review :
""Context Is Everything" is a fascinating, in-depth look at the mysterious workings of memory, the kind of thing Proust might have tried his hand at if he were less the novelist, more the essayist. It's a tribute to the author's insight that the comparison is not far-fetched--she's after the vital madeleine that brings back the secrets of the past, a quest that is stimulating throughout." --W. D. Wetherell, author of" North of Now: A Celebration of Country and the Soon to Be Gone " "For me, the most important story this book tells is the way remembering--memory--is dependent on a past others know too; it is the "fact" literature reveals: how many stories are necessary to tell one story." --Grace Paley ""Context Is Everything "is an innovative look at one of the most important tasks of the human mind: remembering the past. Susan Engel teaches rich lessons about our urge to connect through this process and about the ways that we negotiate a shared past. Most of all, she deftly reveals how memory never really stands alone. If there were only time to read a single book to help us appreciate who we are, this is that book." --Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., author of "The Myth of Repressed Memory " ""Context Is Everything "shows how memory, though born within the individual mind, takes on its particular shapes and truths through particular social contexts and through its intermingling with the memories and proclivities of others. In reading and re-reading her astute comparison of the kind of memory demanded in court trials and that which is considered necessary in the interchange between patient and therapist, I was entranced by her insight." --James McConkey, author of "Court of Memory "and editor of "The Anatomy of Memory " "Susan Engel has written a graceful meditation on the nature of autobiographical narrative and the development of memory. Rich with insight into the personal meanings and social functions of remembering, "Context Is Everything" explores and illuminates some of the most fundamental aspects of human experience." --Daniel L. Schacter, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of "Searching for Memory: The Brain, The Mind, and The P"ast