Heaven on Earth : The Varieties of the Millennial Experience

A comprehensive examination of millenniallism: the belief that the grandest events of history and the cosmos will occur soon and suddenly, whether as a religious dnouement with the coming of the Last Days, or as a final social solution to resolve the human predicament forever. Through analysis of diverse cases throughout history, Richard Landes demonstrates that millenniallism has been deliberately downplayed and even ignored by historians, and shows that millenarian beliefs have played a role in many supposedly secular events, movements, and periods, including modernity.