The Apocalypse Is Everywhere - by Anne Rehill (Hardcover)

About the Book

This wide-ranging exploration of the apocalypse in Western culture seeks to understand how we have come to be so preoccupied with spectacular visions of our own annihilation--offering abundant examples of the changing nature of our imagined destruction, and predisposing readers to discover many more all around them.
The Apocalypse Is Everywhere: A Popular History of America's Favorite Nightmare explores why apocalyptic thinking exists, how it has been manifested in Western culture through the ages, and how it has woven itself so thoroughly into our popular culture today.

Beginning with contemporary apocalyptic expressions, the book demonstrates how surprisingly widespread they are. It then discusses how we inherited them and where they arose. Author Annie Rehill surveys the ancient belief systems from which Christianity evolved, including ancient Judaism and other faiths. She explores the vision outlined in the Book of Revelation and traces the apocalyptic thread through the Middle Ages, across the Reformation and Enlightenment, and to the Americas. Finally, to prove that the Apocalypse is indeed everywhere, Rehill returns to the present to consider the idea of apocalypse as it occurs in movies, books, comics and graphic novels, games, music, and art, as well asin televangelism and even presidential speeches. Her fascinating scholarship will surely have readers looking about them with new eyes.

• Illustrations showcase the widespread belief in apocalypse, including medieval drawings as well as contemporary photographs and movie stills
• A wide-ranging bibliography points the way to significant materials from the fields of history, literature, popular culture, theology, and more

Book Synopsis

This wide-ranging exploration of the apocalypse in Western culture seeks to understand how we have come to be so preoccupied with spectacular visions of our own annihilation--offering abundant examples of the changing nature of our imagined destruction, and predisposing readers to discover many more all around them.

The Apocalypse Is Everywhere: A Popular History of America's Favorite Nightmare explores why apocalyptic thinking exists, how it has been manifested in Western culture through the ages, and how it has woven itself so thoroughly into our popular culture today.

Beginning with contemporary apocalyptic expressions, the book demonstrates how surprisingly widespread they are. It then discusses how we inherited them and where they arose. Author Annie Rehill surveys the ancient belief systems from which Christianity evolved, including ancient Judaism and other faiths. She explores the vision outlined in the Book of Revelation and traces the apocalyptic thread through the Middle Ages, across the Reformation and Enlightenment, and to the Americas. Finally, to prove that the Apocalypse is indeed everywhere, Rehill returns to the present to consider the idea of apocalypse as it occurs in movies, books, comics and graphic novels, games, music, and art, as well asin televangelism and even presidential speeches. Her fascinating scholarship will surely have readers looking about them with new eyes.

Review Quotes

"This book traces manifestations of the apocalypse of the biblical Book of Revelations in American popular culture. The author first seeks to demonstrate how widespread apocalyptic visions are before turning to an exploration of their roots in the Bible and in other religious traditions and surveying their historical development to the present day. She then turns back to the present, examining occurrences of apocalyptic ideas in movies, books, comics, games, music, art, televangelism, presidential speeches, and elsewhere." --Reference & Research Book News

About the Author

Annie Rehill is a freelance writer and editor.