The Last MythThe Last Myth
What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us About America
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Book, 2012
Current format, Book, 2012, , All copies in use.Book, 2012
Current format, Book, 2012, , All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formatsDuring the first dozen years of the twenty-first century, apocalyptic anticipation in America has leapt from the cultish to the mainstream. Today, nearly 60 percent of Americans believe that the events foretold in the book of Revelation will come true. But many secular readers also seem hungry for catastrophe and have propelled books about peak oil, global warming, and the end of civilization into bestsellers. How did we come to live in a culture obsessed by the belief that the end is near?
The Last Myth explains why apocalyptic beliefs are surging within the American mainstream today. Demonstrating that our expectation of the end of the world is a surprisingly recent development in human thought, the book reveals the profound influence of apocalyptic thinking on America’s past, present, and future.
New media strategist Gross, who ran Howard Dean's 2003-04 Internet presidential campaign, and yoga consultant Gilles ponder the implications of the many scenarios for the End of the World as We Know It that they say almost all Americans believe one or another of. They discuss the apocalyptic decade, the past is a foreign country, the evolution of the apocalypse, the Rapture of America, the apocalypse will take a little while, in defense of a worldview, and beyond the last myth. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Presents an analysis of the prevalence of apocalyptic thinking in America, discussing its Puritan roots in a Judeo-Christian world view and emphasizing the need to distingush between imagined perils and real world problems that need solving.
The Last Myth explains why apocalyptic beliefs are surging within the American mainstream today. Demonstrating that our expectation of the end of the world is a surprisingly recent development in human thought, the book reveals the profound influence of apocalyptic thinking on America’s past, present, and future.
New media strategist Gross, who ran Howard Dean's 2003-04 Internet presidential campaign, and yoga consultant Gilles ponder the implications of the many scenarios for the End of the World as We Know It that they say almost all Americans believe one or another of. They discuss the apocalyptic decade, the past is a foreign country, the evolution of the apocalypse, the Rapture of America, the apocalypse will take a little while, in defense of a worldview, and beyond the last myth. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Presents an analysis of the prevalence of apocalyptic thinking in America, discussing its Puritan roots in a Judeo-Christian world view and emphasizing the need to distingush between imagined perils and real world problems that need solving.
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- Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, c2012.
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