Rebecca Falkoff--author of Possessed: A Cultural History of Hoarding, assistant professor of Italian studies at NYU, and stand-up comedian--unpacks the methods and madness behind hoarding with Eve and Julie. They discuss how her family experiences inspired her academic book on hoarding; how her fear of becoming a hoarder herself complicates her writing process; how we can differentiate hoarding from collecting; and why hoarding is both a way of disavowing mortality and a mortal threat to the hoarder. Rebecca also weighs in on this hot-button question: Are billionaires and misers just economic hoarders in a capitalist society?
Possessed: A Cultural History of Hoarding
"Exhaustively researched and brimming with new ideas, Possessed offers a richly detailed account of the last two centuries of hoarding and hoarding-adjacent practices in Western culture."-Raymond Malewitz, Oregon State University, author of The Practice of Misuse
