Character: the history of a cultural obsession

Introduction. Character witnesses

Testing it : Politics, sports, celebrity

Teaching it : Tales out of school

Claiming it : The idea of national character

Reading it : The rise and fall, and (un)surprising return of phrenology

Naming it : Psychoanalysis, psychology, and the emergence of "personality"

Seeing it : Art, physiognomy, photography, gesture, science

Character types : Greeks, geeks, nerds - and little miss hug

The difference gender makes : Mettle, spunk, and the right stuff

Afterword. The character effect.