Dragons for Sale Hardcover - 1993
by Robert E. Wheeler
This study of human delusions and superstitions includes chapters on religious persecutions, bogus medical practice, the delusions of so-called saints and prophets, false Christs, self-appointed seers, false love prophets, bogus messiahs, and more.
From the rear cover
Fear and ignorance have run rampant throughout human history, stifling creativity and unleashing unspeakable cruelty. Those sinister mythical dragons that often stood in the path of truth and knowledge seem to return century after century as each new generation succumbs to its own insecurities, misled by those who would feed off the fear of others. With great savoir vivre Robert E. Wheeler guides us through the twists and turns of our many and varied foibles, all the while aiming the clear light of reason on the root causes of human misery. His compassion and insight, humor and lively command of the language combine to explore a gallery of "rancid ascetics"; "gloating sadists"; "pontificating hierophants"; "saints, gnomes, and rogues"; "spurious religiosity"; "swaggering unreason"; "oratorical hokum"; and "mystical ballyhoo"; as well as the "whiplash of mass emotion" and the "torrential madness of hysteria-dominated crowds" to arrive at a "fuller, richer, and more abundant life" in which we will "no longer tolerate the coexistence of natural affluence and spiritual squalor". No longer blinded by fear, which undermines our reason, we can recover from our "allergic reaction to truth", turn away from magic - that "shuddering attempt to master a terrifying universe" - and stop behaving like "screaming moppets that want someone to pluck the moon from the sky for them". Guided by Wheeler's firm grasp of cultural history and modern psychology, Dragons for Sale exposes the roots of such mental maladies as witchcraft and its persecution, asceticism and unbridled hedonism, the crusades and millenarianism, nazism's monumental conceit, and the tactics of McCarthyism, as well as the more mundaneconsequences of belief in nostrum vendors and bogus messiahs. Books once regarded as the well-springs of wisdom - e.g., the Sibylline books and the Malleus Maleficarum (the witch hunter's handbook) - are discussed and assessed, uncovering the origins of our sexual misconceptions as readers examine the "seamier side of the Age of Reason" and learn how many beliefs act as "psychological toxins". When we realize that not even the learned have a monopoly on truth and that our collective anxieties should not be allowed to undermine our reason, only then may we realize our unparalleled potential for growing into healthy, fulfilled human beings.
Details
- Title Dragons for Sale
- Author Robert E. Wheeler
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 166
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Prometheus Books, Buffalo
- Date 1993-08-01
- ISBN 9780879758271 / 0879758279
- Weight 0.92 lbs (0.42 kg)
- Dimensions 9.28 x 6.26 x 0.79 in (23.57 x 15.90 x 2.01 cm)
-
Themes
- Topical: New Age
- Library of Congress subjects Reason, Rationalism
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 93021513
- Dewey Decimal Code 001.96
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Dragons for Sale
by Wheeler, Robert
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Le Sueur, Minnesota, United States
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Dragons for Sale: Studies in Unreason
by Robert E. Wheeler
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Dragons for Sale
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Dragons for Sale: Studies in Unreason: // The Photos in this listing are of the book that is offered for sale
by Wheeler, Robert E. with foreword by Cornelia Fuykschot Wheeler
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Dragons for Sale: Studies in Unreason
by Robert E. Wheeler
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by Wheeler, Robert E.
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Bensalem, Pennsylvania, United States
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