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Title: The Millennium Myth: The Ever-Ending Story by Sean M. O'Shea, Meryl A. Walker ISBN: 0-89334-274-2 Publisher: Humanics Ltd Partners Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: The Millennium Myth: The Ever-Ending Story
Comment: Excitement and anticipation at the advent of a new millennium is nothing new. In The Millennium Myth: The Ever-Ending Story, Sean M. O'Shea and Meryl A. Walker trace end-of-the-world and new-beginning rituals from their prehistoric origins to current times.

O'Shea and Walker point out that "in the many cycles that our ancestors witnessed and experienced {day and night, the crop cycle, the four seasons, or life and death}, they were far too astute to miss the corresponding application to their entire world: someday it too will end." They define millennium as referring "to the end of the current age" with the implication that the transition from one age to the next "is marked by events of the most horrible nature: an apocalypse."

The authors' analyses of each major religion shows how cultural beliefs about the end of the world and new beginnings are woven into the tapestry of worship. They also show how millennial beliefs made their way into fairy tales and folklore, and how those beliefs affected the daily lives of ordinary people.

The chapter on contemporary America discusses the rapid technological advances made in the past hundred years, the "psychic apocalypse" of mass genocide, the development of our ability to totally destroy the world with nuclear weapons, and the proliferation of deadly diseases like AIDS. In life today, "there is no safe haven," leading some people into cults or following messiahs like David Koresh or Jim Jones.

The final chapter deals with prophesy. As man is aware that the world must sometime end, "his ongoing concern [can be] confined to a single question: When?" Prophesy attempts to provide an answer to that question. Millennial prophesies include those of Nostradamus, and the Bible Code.

The Millennium Myth is a scholarly work, heavily annotated. Each chapter has its own bibliography. It will appeal to readers wanting a broad perspective on millennial beliefs through the ages.

Rating: 5
Summary: An intellegent analysis of why we fear the new millenia
Comment: We --as a humanity, a society, a culture-- are living in a time of great uncertainty. Although technology and science are providing us with giant steps, these distinctly human concepts are overshadowed by a universal unknown-- the great sceptor of time. The authors have done a fabulous job of interpreting our unknown fears of the new millenium and given us the history behind this fear. I recommend this exciting book, and in fact am considering using it for a history course here at Osaka University.

Rating: 5
Summary: Millennium's most thorough, fascinating and informative book
Comment: The "Millennium Myth"offers an outstandingly thorough and interesting exploration of this impending historical phenomenon that holds fascination and wonderment for us all . It is an eye-opening presentation of both the origins and potential of this occurrence, from virtually every perspective -cultural, political, religious, psychological and social.

Thoroughly researched and documented, it is at the same time compellingly narrated, intelligently organized, and beautifully phrased. In short, a literary and scholarly triumph for these talented young authors.