"I was incredibly impressed. A remarkable and surprising collection of social behaviors that demonstrates how quickly we humans make the bizarre seem normal when we huddle together in groups. Both compelling and complete...an Aladdin's cave of social curiosities drawn from rigorous research. I can't think of any book that is a more complete guide to the oddities of human social history." - Vaughan Bell, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, Universidad de Antioquia"In this encyclopedic guide to the wilder shores of collective behavior, Evans and Bartholomew explore unusual social movements and what seem otherwise inexplicable outbreaks of collective behaviors. The result is a work of immense erudition and scholarship but also a thumping good read. I read it on a plane, and found that my companions in the seats either side of me were as engrossed as I was..." - Simon Wessely, Chair and Head of the Department of Social Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London
"An extraordinary compilation of approximately 340 incidents of collective behavior spread over many countries on all continents, encompassing a time span of centuries. It is, without any doubt, the most ambitious undertaking of its sort, with entries ranging from the Children's Crusades to the Chilean Martian Panic, from Cyber Ghost Scares to the Popish Plot...an excellent resource for library references as well as for college-level teachers of collective behavior." - Benigno Aguirre, Professor of Sociology, University of Delaware
From the Inside Flap
An authoritative reference on a broad range of topics.
About the Author
Hilary Evans was a British historian with a BA from Cambridge University and a Masters in English literature from Birmingham University. A collector of rare and antique books and illustrations, he was the curator of the prestigious Mary Evans Picture Library in London. Over the past five decades he authored dozens of books on an array of topics ranging from life in Victorian England and illustrated histories and biographies, to altered states of consciousness, religious and social history, folklore and modern mythology, ancient mysteries and media scares. His books include Intrusions: Society & the Paranormal, Gods, Spirits, Cosmic Guardians, and Panic Attacks: Media Manipulation and Mass Delusion with Robert Bartholomew.
Robert Bartholomew is an authority on collective behavior and social deviance. He holds a Masters in sociology from The State University of New York at Albany and a Ph.D. from James Cook University. His studies have appeared in dozens of peer-reviewed journals including the British Medical Journal; Canadian Medical Association Journal; The International Journal of Social Psychiatry; The Sociological Quarterly, and Educational Studies. His books include Exotic Deviance: Medicalizing Cultural Idioms - From Strangeness to Illness, and Hoaxes, Myths & Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking with Ben Radford. He has been interviewed in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The BBC Morning Show, and on the History Channel.
