Two historians explore how fringe beliefs and those who follow them have been carried through the last one thousand years and offer reasons for the strong hold apocalyptic thinking has had on people living in the New World.
David S. Katz received his B.A. from Columbia University and his D.Phil. from Oxford University. Since 1978 he has been professor of history at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of six books on the history of religious ideas and their political effects. He lives in Tel Aviv.
Richard H. Popkin is professor emeritus of philosophy at Washington University and adjunct professor of philosophy and history at UCLA. He is the author of many books, including The History of Scepticism from Erasmus to Spinoza. He lives in Pacific Palisades, California.