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The extraordinary medieval European millenarian movements are painstakingly analysed by Norman Cohn, who concludes that they arose not just where there was poverty, but in societies where traditional social structures like the family, guilds and feudal ties had broken down. The disorientation caused by the breakdown in traditional structures was crucial in the emergence of these ferocious and very radical movements, which were always led by people who were a cut above the masses - renegade priests, hermits, educated laymen, artisans who could read, even minor nobles. The leaders were steeped in the arcane millenarian literature which had existed for centuries.
Cohn, writing in the 1950s, makes a cogent case that there was a direct relationship between the Nazis and the Communists and the medieval millenarian movements, for example the Third Reich lasting a thousand years, and Marx's view of the three stages of history - pre-capitalist, bourgeois and then communist paradise on earth, which was very similar to some millenarian thinking.
First published in 1957, this is te greatly expanded and revised 1970 reprint from Paladin UK.
Condition - larger format paperback, there is a previous owner's name to the title page and heavy spotting/ foxing to the inside ( blank) front cover)
A fascinating book . the title makes it sound as if it is very dry and academic - it it not at all, and is perhaps, a more relevant book than ever in this modern age of alternate beliefs, conspiracy (and lots of unwell people on the Internet)
