Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America

by Jane Borden

That is from “The Day of Doom,” a long-form poem by the pastor Michael Wigglesworth. Dark stuff from a guy whose name sounds like a toddler in a tickle fight. It catalogues Judgment Day—when Jesus swipes everyone left or right—in gory, exhaustive detail. Published in 1662, it’s a cosmic eff-you and I-told-you-so to the masses of those presumed damned. The Puritans loved it. The first eighteen hundred copies sold out within a year, remarkable considering New England’s population was only about thirty thousand total. It’s been called America’s first bestseller. One in twenty New Englanders bought a copy.16 Since books were treasures in the MBC and therefore shared within households, which typically numbered four to seven, my back-of-the-envelope math suggests “The Day of Doom” was read by about 30 percent of New England residents. For reference, as of 2021, 31 percent of Americans have read a Harry Potter book.17