The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Messianism in Medieval and Reformation Europe and its Bearing on Modern Totalitarian Movements

The Academy Library. Originally published by Essential Books in l957. Later revised and republished with the subtitle 'Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages'. Some light shelf-wear and a former owner name in ink to the inside front cover. Spine is in nice shape. Includes 33-page bibliography. According to Anthony Stohr, Cohn was concerned with 'the important parts of history other historians do not reach: the collective myths that underpin the assumptions, prejudices and beliefs which shake and shape human societies.' William Gibson, Ian McEwan, and Guy Debord have all acknowledged intellectual debt to this influential study by Cohn (first published in l957, the book was cited by Debord as an inspiration for the Situationist International). A glance at its section headings—'The Poor in the First Crusades', 'The Secret Flagellants of Thuringia', 'The Doctrine of Mystical Anarchism', 'Anarcho-communism in Bohemia'—gives a sense of the fascinating lens Cohn applies to millenarian cult movements. Features a powerful cover incorporating silhouettes, slab-serif titling, and a neat three-line italic treatment of the book's unwieldy subtitle; designer Janet Halverson is best known for her first editions of Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. 481 pp.