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This selection, first published in 1973, compiles a fascinating
study of crowd psychology as it examines the moral epidemics and
fits of madness that have bewitched the cities of Europe and their
citizens from the dark ages to modern times. Among the selections
are tales of thieves and poisoners, demons and poltergeists mingled
with all the crazes, fantasies, divinations and prophecies that
have stunned the critical faculties.
This selection, first published in 1973, compiles a fascinating
study of crowd psychology as it examines the moral epidemics and
fits of madness that have bewitched the cities of Europe and their
citizens from the dark ages to modern times. Among the selections
are tales of thieves and poisoners, demons and poltergeists mingled
with all the crazes, fantasies, divinations and prophecies that
have stunned the critical faculties.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is the
original guide to behavioural psychology - and how manias, follies
and superstitions begin, spread and (eventually) pass. A hugely
entertaining tour through financial scams and stock market bubbles,
alchemical quests and prophecy wars, duelling bouts and relic
hunts, the book is as insightful and memorable today as when it was
first published over 150 years ago. This edition comes with an
exclusive foreword by Russell Napier, author of Anatomy of the
Bear. Harriman Definitive Editions offer the best quality editions
of the best financial books of all time. Beautifully typeset in new
designs, accompanied by forewords by the best modern financial
writers, printed and bound in high-quality hardcovers on acid-free
paper - they are essential long-term additions to the portfolio of
every investor and trader.
2009 reprint of the 1852 second edition. Two volumes bound into
one. Charles Mackay (1814-1889) was a Scottish poet, journalist,
and song writer. He was born in Perth, Scotland. His mother died
shortly after his birth and his father was by turns a naval officer
and a foot soldier. He was educated at the Caledonian Asylum,
London, and at Brussels, but spent much of his early life in
France. Coming to London in 1834, he engaged in journalism, working
for the Morning Chronicle from 1835-1844 and then became Editor of
The Glasgow Argus. He moved to the Illustrated London News in 1848
becoming Editor in 1852. He is best known for his classic Memoirs
of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowd,
reprinted herein. Mackay covers many types of delusions, among them
financial manias like the South Sea Company bubble of 1711-1720,
the Mississippi Company bubble of 1719-1720, and the Dutch tulip
mania of the early seventeenth century. According to Mackay, during
this bubble, speculators from all walks of life bought and sold
tulip bulbs and even futures contracts on them. Allegedly some
tulip bulb varieties briefly became the most expensive objects in
the world during 1637. Mackay's accounts are enlivened by colorful,
comedic anecdotes, such as the Parisian hunchback who supposedly
profited by renting out his hump as a writing desk during the
height of the mania surrounding the Mississippi Company. Financier
Bernard Baruch credited the lessons he learned from Mackay with his
decision to sell all his stock ahead of the financial crash of
1929.Other chapters are devoted to Alchemists, scientists and
pseudo scientists who attempted to turn base metals into gold.
Mackay notes that many of these practitioners were themselves
deluded, convinced that these feats could be performed if they
discovered the correct old recipe or stumbled upon the right
combination of ingredients.There are also extensive treatments on
the Crusades, Witch Mania and Trials and other forms of mass
delusion.
More than a century before Alan Greenspan coined the phrase
"irrational exuberance" to describe the speculative bubble
inflating technology stocks, Charles Mackay was recording the'
history of "tulipomania", a speculative madness surrounding the
value of tulips in the 18th century that was the ruin of many Dutch
and English investors. This is only one of the "extraordinary
popular delusions" documented by Mackay in a fascinating study of
group psychology. He also describes notorious witch hunts, haunted
houses, the Crusades, beliefs in fortunetellers and in the magical
power of alchemy, veneration of relics, bogus health cures and
health scares, and many other examples of human credulity and
flights from reason. This work is a true classic in the study of
paranormal beliefs, a funny, shocking, and unbelievable yet true
history of human gullibility.
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