People have always imagined that human history has an end point. The way this has been imagined has varied according to time, place, and culture. In medieval England people lived in expectation of the Biblical Day of Judgment, when the world would end and people would be judged by God according to their sins. In art and literature from the early modern period onwards, the most frightening scenes from the Bible were depicted to warn people of the dangers of sin. As the power of the church waned and society became more secular, ?new? threats emerged such as pandemics and otherworldly beings which threatened to destroy humanity, and whose tales were told time and again in popular culture. This book examines stories of the apocalypse in popular culture from the medieval period to the twenty-first century; it is a history of the end of the world. AUTHOR: Dr Stephen Basdeo is Senior Lecturer at Elizabeth School of London's Leeds campus. He has previously published several books for Pen and Sword and is the author of a number of academic articles and book chapters. He is interested in all aspects of British social and cultural history, though his research has led to a few areas of focus such as medieval and Victorian history. As a fluent speaker of Portuguese, he is also well-versed in the history of South America, with a special emphasis on the Empire of Brazil. He currently lives in his hometown of Leeds with a cat, named Robin, after the famous English outlaw Robin Hood. 32 b/w illustrations
