Project Gutenberg 2008-02-05 Public domain in the USA. 1897 Mackay, Charles 1814 1889 Mackay, Chas. (Charles) Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds The Mississippi scheme -- The south-sea bubble -- The tulipomania -- The alchymists -- Modern prophecies -- Fortune-telling -- The magnetisers -- Influence of politics and religion on the hair and beard -- The crusades -- The witch mania -- The slow poisoners -- Haunted houses -- Popular follies of great cities -- Popular admiration of great thieves -- Duels and ordeals -- Relics. Jonathan Ingram, Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay is a historical account written in the mid-19th century. The book investigates various collective follies and delusions that have swept through societies across time, analyzing how social dynamics can lead to widespread irrational behavior among people. Topics like financial manias, such as the Mississippi Scheme and the South-Sea Bubble, are central to Mackay's exploration of humanity's propensity for folly. The opening of the work sets the stage for an examination of the concept of collective insanity, focusing on the life of John Law, a key figure in the Mississippi Scheme. Mackay introduces the reader to Law as both a brilliant financier and a possible conman, illustrating his rise and fall amid the frenzy and greed of the French populace. It describes Law's early life, his gambling exploits, and how he caught the attention of the Duke of Orleans, leading to his ambitious financial schemes intended to restore France's economy after years of corruption. This narrative not only foreshadows Law's eventual downfall but also reflects on the broader themes of ambition and delusion that permeate societal behaviors throughout history. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Social psychology Swindlers and swindling Impostors and imposture Alchemy Delusions Occultism -- Early works to 1900 Investments -- Psychological aspects Stock exchanges -- Psychological aspects Hallucinations and illusions Common fallacies AZ Text Witchcraft Psychology Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: History - General Browsing: Psychiatry/Psychology 2231489 2231369 2024-09-10T11:52:10.900802 2023-09-11T05:13:22.795433 text/html text/html 2262255 2021-06-26T23:22:20 text/html; charset=utf-8 15522236 2021-06-26T23:23:36 text/html; charset=utf-8 application/zip 15780117 2024-09-10T11:53:05.238044 application/epub+zip 15754456 2024-09-10T11:52:25.377733 application/epub+zip 864605 2024-09-10T11:52:14.556736 application/epub+zip 17895711 2024-09-10T11:53:29.586970 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 17663103 2024-09-10T11:52:50.679089 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1187821 2022-09-11T10:26:25.193291 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1684940 2024-09-10T11:52:07.001799 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 1684821 2021-06-26T23:22:47 text/plain; charset=utf-8 636585 2021-06-26T23:23:14 text/plain; charset=utf-8 application/zip 21128 2024-09-10T11:53:29.923899 application/rdf+xml 25002 2024-09-10T11:52:15.132752 image/jpeg 4682 2024-09-10T11:52:14.870737 image/jpeg 15566780 2024-09-10T11:52:11.650760 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia