Selections from 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions' and 'The Madness of Crowds'

by Charles Mackay (editor)

This selection, first published in 1973, compiles a fascinating study of crowd psychology as it examines the moral epidemics and fits of madness that have bewitched the cities of Europe and their citizens from the dark ages to modern times. Among the selections are tales of thieves and poisoners, demons and poltergeists mingled with all the crazes, fantasies, divinations and prophecies that have stunned the critical faculties.

134 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2022

About the author

Charles Mackay was a Scottish poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter, remembered mainly for his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

Mackay became a journalist in London: in 1834 he was an occasional contributor to The Sun. From the spring of 1835 till 1844 he was assistant sub-editor of the Morning Chronicle. In the autumn of 1839 he spent a month's holiday in Scotland, witnessing the Eglintoun Tournament, which he described in the Chronicle, and making acquaintances in Edinburgh. In the autumn of 1844, he moved to Scotland, and became editor of the Glasgow Argus, resigning in 1847. He worked for the Illustrated London News in 1848, becoming editor in 1852.

Mackay published Songs and Poems (1834), a History of London, The Thames and its Tributaries or, Rambles Among the Rivers (1840), Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841), and a romance entitled Longbeard. He is also remembered for his Gaelic Etymology of the Languages of Western Europe and the later Dictionary of Lowland Scotch.

His daughter was English novelist and mystic Marie Corelli.