Books by Charles MacKay

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.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay. The subjects of Mackay''s debunking include witchcraft, alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetizers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Contents: ΓÇó Volume 1: National Delusions: ΓÇó The Mississippi Scheme ΓÇó The South Sea Bubble ΓÇó The Tulipomania ΓÇó Relics ΓÇó Modern Prophecies ΓÇó Popular Admiration for Great Thieves ΓÇó Influence of Politics and Religion on the Hair and Beard ΓÇó Duels and Ordeals ΓÇó The Love of the Marvellous and the Disbelief of the True ΓÇó Popular Follies in Great Cities ΓÇó Old Price Riots ΓÇó The Thugs, or Phansigars ΓÇó Volume 2: Peculiar Follies: ΓÇó The Crusades ΓÇó The Witch Mania ΓÇó The Slow Poisoners ΓÇó Haunted Houses ΓÇó Volume 3: Philosophical Delusions : ΓÇó The Alchemysts ΓÇó Fortune Telling ΓÇó The Magnetisers

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

First published in 1841, this history chronicles the popular delusions throughout world history. It is divided into three broad categories, including 'National Delusions,' 'Peculiar Follies,' and 'Philosophical Delusions.' The author discusses and usually debunks a wide variety of subjects and events. These include economic bubbles like the tulip craze of Holland in 1637 or the Mississippi Company financial bubble of 1719; alchemy, which was of particular interest to individuals who wanted to create gold out of lesser-valued materials; the Crusades, also known as the Middle Ages mania; witch hunts, the persecution of thousands of innocent victims that arose from either supernatural ill fortune or neighbors with a score to settle; duels; the political and religious influence on beards; and several others. This work, with all of its interesting observations, is an entertaining and insightful book that explores the phenomenon of crowd mentality. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

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.

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.