Longing For The End: A History Of Millennialism In Western Civilization
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: small tear on back of jacket
From the earliest prophets of doom to the fever dreams of modern apocalyptic movements, Longing for the End chronicles humanity's enduring obsession with the end of time, tracing the full arc of millennialist thought across two thousand years of Western civilization. Frederic J. Baumgartner presents a rigorous and sweeping historical survey — from the Book of Revelation and the millenarian upheavals of medieval Europe, through the Reformation's radical sects and the revolutionary utopias of the Enlightenment, to the doomsday cults and apocalyptic anxieties of the twentieth century — revealing how the belief in an imminent, catastrophic end has repeatedly reshaped societies, sparked revolutions, and driven mass movements. Baumgartner argues with compelling authority that millennialism is not a fringe curiosity but a recurring, deeply embedded force in the Western psyche, one that has left its fingerprints on politics, religion, art, and social reform. Writing with the precision of a scholar and the accessibility of a master storyteller, he illustrates how each generation has recast the millennial dream in its own image, driven by fear, hope, and an unquenchable desire for divine justice. For anyone seeking to understand why the promise — or threat — of an ending has proven so irresistible to the human imagination, this meticulously researched study raises a question that may be impossible to answer: when the end does not come, why do we so readily begin the wait again?
Author: Frederic J. Baumgartner
Format: Hardback
Published: 1999, St. Martin's Press
Genre: History
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: small tear on back of jacket
From the earliest prophets of doom to the fever dreams of modern apocalyptic movements, Longing for the End chronicles humanity's enduring obsession with the end of time, tracing the full arc of millennialist thought across two thousand years of Western civilization. Frederic J. Baumgartner presents a rigorous and sweeping historical survey — from the Book of Revelation and the millenarian upheavals of medieval Europe, through the Reformation's radical sects and the revolutionary utopias of the Enlightenment, to the doomsday cults and apocalyptic anxieties of the twentieth century — revealing how the belief in an imminent, catastrophic end has repeatedly reshaped societies, sparked revolutions, and driven mass movements. Baumgartner argues with compelling authority that millennialism is not a fringe curiosity but a recurring, deeply embedded force in the Western psyche, one that has left its fingerprints on politics, religion, art, and social reform. Writing with the precision of a scholar and the accessibility of a master storyteller, he illustrates how each generation has recast the millennial dream in its own image, driven by fear, hope, and an unquenchable desire for divine justice. For anyone seeking to understand why the promise — or threat — of an ending has proven so irresistible to the human imagination, this meticulously researched study raises a question that may be impossible to answer: when the end does not come, why do we so readily begin the wait again?