Mount's canvas is far broader and more densely crowded than is indicated by this brief review. There is much to agree with in the book…Again and again he refutes the doomsters and the naysayers, and does so with good humour, warmth and wit.

John Banville, The Times

Mount is absolutely gripping when he writes about the historical backlashes against sentimentalism.

Telegraph

Soft is a compassionate, compelling and entertainingly eccentric survey of collective psychology and the madness of crowds.

Frances Wilson, TLS

[An] erudite, immensely entertaining book...Mount makes for a delightful guide.

Literary Review

Highly readable... Splendidly readable...written with his characteristic verve and style, Mount's book...is timely.

Financial Times

[An] erudite, immensely entertaining book… I have seldom read a work of cultural history that made me laugh out loud as frequently as this one did…

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