The Crowd & Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

by Charles Mackay and Gustave Le Bon

Book Overview

In this book, Charles Mackay discusses the irrational behaviors of crowds in the economy, war and magic. He gives several different examples of market bubbles, such as the Mississippi Scheme and the infamous Tulip Mania in the Netherlands. Ever since it was written, investors have used it as a guide to help identify boom and bust cycles. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds has had an important influence on economists in understanding...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9562912256
• ISBN13: 9789562912259
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: www.bnpublishing.com
• Length: 548 Pages
• Weight: 2.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.3" x 11.7"

Customer Reviews

Two Classics in ONE VOLUME

"The Crowd" & "Estraodinary Popular Delusions (and the madness of crowds) ISBN 0 934380 23 6 Traders Press Greenvill S.C. THE CROWD by Gustave Le Bon, and EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS AND THE MADNESS OF CROWDS are twin classics that can be purchased as separate texts, or purchased combined in this single paperback volume by Traders Press. The first book, THE CROWD by Gustave Le Bon, was published in 1897. It is a classic study on mass psychology, explaining why large crowds of people seem to sometimes become emotionally "infected" and function without objective thought. This book studies how such crowds become mobs. The second book, EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS AND THE MADNESS OF CROWDS published in 1841, focuses on a notorious stock swindle and also the Holland tulip mania which drove people to fantasic investments in tulip bulbs, driven by greed. These are both foundation texts in mob or crowd delusion and psychology. Much of the psychological information remains valid today, and these are useful references for those who would understand popular psychology, and what motivates people to act violently, destructively, or merely foolishly. Looking back upon history, we can ponder the period when the newly formed United States implemented the "Alien & Sedition Acts," which limited freedom of public assembly and speech. In light of the fact that the French revolution spawned a period of mob frenzy engaged in ever more frothy and bloody violence by mobs and national councils, the U. S. Government saw that the same thing occurring on the North American continent would destabilize the fledgling government. the Alien & Sedition Acts limited such activity until the U.S. government was established. These are very informative books with which all educated persons should be familiar.