Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) »

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a landmark study of crowd psychology and mass mania and a singular casebook of human folly throughout the ages. Chronicled here are accounts of swindles, schemes, and scams on a grand scale. Other chapters deal with fads and delusions that have sprung from ideas, beliefs, and causes that still have champions today: the prophecies of Nostradamus, the coming of comets and Judgment Day, the Rosicrucians, and astrology. The book also surveys controversial people and movements of the past: necromancy, Father Hell and Magnetism, Anthony Mesmer and Mesmerism, the Crusades, sorcery and the burning of witches, not to mention the popularity of murder by slow poisoning. \ \

About the Author:

\ Charles Mackay (1814-1889) was a Scots journalist, author, and songwriter who was born in Perth and educated in London and Brussels. He published a Dictionary of Lowland Scotch and several volumes of verse, and also wrote several hit songs, including one ("The Good Time Coming") that sold 400,000 copies in 1846. Mackay also held a doctorate in literature and had an extensive career as a journalist. \