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MEMORY NEEDS CONTEXT
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., June 17, 1999--W. H. Freeman and Company has announced publication of Context is Everything: The Nature of Memory, by Susan Engel.
The book explores how the context of a recollection--place, company, purpose, and situation--affects the essence and experience of the memory.
The author analyzes memory's function in a number of varied circumstances, such as a trial, a therapy session, the construction of one's public persona, and the formulation of an autobiography.
Vivid anecdotes are blended with startling findings of memory research to examine the implications of context and purpose for memory, including one's motivation to remember and the strength or quality of the memory itself.
"Susan Engel teaches rich lessons about our urge to connect through this process [remembering the past] and about the ways that we negotiate a shared past," writes Elizabeth Loftus, author of The Myth of Repressed Memory. "If there were only time to read a single book to help us appreciate who we are, this is that book."
Engel examines memory as fodder for history: What is the basis for what we know and pass on? Writes author Grace Paley, "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."
Susan Engel is lecturer in psychology and director of education programs at Williams College. She received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1980, and her Ph.D. from the developmental psychology program, City University of New York in 1985.
She has published in numerous journals such as Journal of American Psychology and Journal of Psychotherapy. She is also the author of The Stories Children Tell: Making Sense of the Narratives of Childhood.
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Williams College is consistently ranked one of the nation's top liberal arts colleges. Founded in 1793, it is the second oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college of 2,000 students is located in Williamstown, which has been called the best college town in America. You can visit the college in cyberspace at http://www.williams.edu
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