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What does your collection of toilet paper say about you?

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




Go Deeper

Rebecca Falkoff

Possessed: A Cultural History of Hoarding, by Rebecca Falkoff

Collyer’s Mansion, Collyer Brothers (Homer and Langley Collyer)

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee

Possessed (documentary), by Martin Hampton

James Mustich

1000 Books to Read Before You Die, by James Mustich

Ep. 5 - “What Are We Supposed to Read Now?” ft. James Mustich

Eve Yohalem

Julie Sternberg

Book Dreams Podcast

Podglomerate

Lit Hub Radio

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