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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.
Charles MacKay's groundbreaking examination of a staggering variety
of popular delusions, crazes and mass follies is presented here in
full with no abridgements. The text concentrates on a wide variety
of phenomena which had occurred over the centuries prior to this
book's publication in 1841. Mackay begins by examining economic
bubbles, such as the infamous Tulipomania, wherein Dutch tulips
rocketed in value amid claims they could be substituted for actual
currency. As we progress further, the scope of the book broadens
into several more exotic fields of mass self-deception. Mackay
turns his attention to the witch hunts of the 17th and 18th
centuries, the practice of alchemy, the phenomena of haunted
houses, the vast and varied practices of fortune telling and the
search for the philosopher's stone, to name but a handful of
subjects. Today, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of
Crowds is distinguished as an expansive, well-researched and
somewhat eccentric work of social history.
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