Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

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"This informative, funny collection of popular delusions, from Alchemy to Mesmerism, has become a classic--a study of mass manias, crowd behavior, and human folly. The book encompasses a broad range of scams, manias, and deceptions including witch burnings and the Great Crusades. Here are the human quirks that created the Mississippi Bubble and Tulipomania--when speculators lost fortunes on a single tulip bulb. Here are the follies and fads that dictated fashion through the ages. Here is a book that affords fascinating and entertaining insight into how sensible, intelligent people may be transformed into mayhem-making mobs."--Adapted from back cover