A Global History of the Apocalypse: Millenarian Movements in the Modern World

This course will examine the rise, fall, and legacy of modern millenarian movements-- movements that claim that our corrupt world is about to be swept away, to be replaced with a particular version of paradise-- in a global perspective. Drawing on an array of sources ranging from proclamations, diaries, criminal confessions, newspaper accounts, cartoons, songs, photographs, and films, we will explore what, if anything, these movements had in common, and their connections to and influences on one another.