Some Extraordinary Popular Delusions
Penguin : Great Ideas
Paperback
: 26 Aug 2010
£4.99
Synopsis
Describing bizarrely popular Victorian street slang, the madness of crowds, stock market mania (from the South Sea Bubble to Tulip fever), popular fashions, fads, crazes, schemes and scams, this brilliantly entertaining and ever-more relevant study of human folly shows that we are always susceptible to hysteria and bamboozlement.
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Customer Review: 11 April 2012More
Student review by Christopher Turner, University of Bath Spa
An anecdotal treat, Charles Mackay’s Some Extraordinary Popular Delusions examines the mania which has gripped hold of various societies and eras with vehemence. Sectioned into four parts, Mackay’s discourse focuses on topics of mania such as street slang, poisoning and the madness of the stock market. It is the latter which compromises the majority of pages, making up the body of this collection. Mackay firstly focuses on an event in stock market history which is regarded as the South Sea Bubble. A rise in shares metamorphosed the sane into the lunatic, people began to launch insane, ludicrous and, often, fraudulent companies. For example, one company proposed to manufacture a revolutionary gun which could fire square cannon balls. The South Sea Bubble promised an inevitable crash which brought bankruptcy and suicide with it. The second section is the exploration of another bubble, this time describing the Dutch’s mania for Tulips which, in the seventeenth century, sold for ridiculous prices. Mackay relates all this with a gloss of irony, gently mocking humanity’s capability to live up to the absurdity of their nature.
However, Mackay’s descriptions really sprout to life with the two sections that open and close the collection. Opening with a ridiculous, farcical and absurd examination of Victorian street slang – such as the omnicompetent ‘quoz’ and ‘flare up’ and phrases such as ‘what a shocking bad hat’ and ‘who are you?’ – Mackay pokes fun at a society that ‘when no riot, no execution, no murder, no balloon, disturbs the even current of their thoughts’ go slang crazy. Modern readers will draw inevitable parallels between their society and that of Victorian London; Mackay’s discourse on slang certainly assures reader that the absurd invention of maniacal words has a deep rooted, farcical history – the 21st century is not the only century partial to this kind of wackiness. The ending to the collection records a different kind of historical mania, that of poisoning. Describing the ‘deadly plot’ between Viscount Rochester and Overbury, the killing of King James I, and the rising craze of husband-killing and inheritance poisoning in France and Italy, the last section is addictive entertainment at its best. Many interesting historical characters come and go in this section, such as the conniving, evil lovers Mme de Brinvilliers and Sainte Croix who will remind modern readers of Bonnie and Clyde. Mackay’s ability to totally captivate his reader peaks here in the final section.
Overall, Mackay’s Some Extraordinary Popular Delusions is a thoroughly entertaining read. His diction is accessible and concise. Lovers of history will rejoice at this tidy collection. However, for those who adore consistency in captivation may, perhaps, be a little disappointed by the collection’s middle sections of economic folly. Then again, the collection’s opening and closing sections are totally unmissable. Guaranteed to amuse and enlighten, Penguin’s Great Ideas have published a great addition to the vast works that illuminate the absurdity of human action.
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Product details
Format :
Paperback
ISBN: 9780141192925
Size : 111 x 181mm
Pages : 144
Published : 26 Aug 2010
Publisher : Penguin
Some Extraordinary Popular Delusions
£4.99
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