Author

Publication

1997 - Faber and Faber, Boston, Massachusetts

Language

English

Word Count

93,000 words, Guess

Page Count

372 pages

Identifiers

and 2 more
  • LibraryThing179928
  • Goodreads1398131

Classifications

  • DDC303.49/09/05
  • LCCCB161 .K548 1997

Description

The year 2000 is fast approaching and a lot of people are worried about what the future holds. Mark Kingwell, uninterested in prognostication, looks instead to the present and backward to link millennial anxiety to other apocalyptic periods in history. In every previous millennial (and often centennial) finale there has been both a crisis of leadership and a penchant for cross-dressing. Conspiracy theories, distrust of government, renewed religiosity, and sex and gender flux are also symptomatic of end-times throughout recorded history. Kingwell draws on pop culture (body-piercing, angel obsession, psychics fairs, "The X-Files," "Star Trek," "The Simpsons," Pulp Fiction), current events (the Ebola virus, Waco, the Unabomber), and historical parallels (decadence in 1890s Paris, self-flagellation in 1490s Florence, the Crusades) to show how millennial anxiety threatens to extinguish our faith in ourselves.

Subjects

Other Editions

  • Dreams of millennium: report from a culture on the brinkFaber and Faber1997-01-01

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