The classic guide to crowd psychology, financial folly and surprising superstition

By Charles Mackay

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one…”

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is the original guide to behavioural psychology – and how manias, follies and superstitions begin, spread and (eventually) pass.

A hugely entertaining tour through financial scams and stock market bubbles, alchemical quests and prophecy wars, duelling bouts and relic hunts, the book is as insightful and memorable today as when it was first published almost 180 years ago.

This edition comes with an exclusive foreword by Russell Napier, author of Anatomy of the Bear.

Harriman Definitive Editions offer the best quality editions of the best financial books of all time. Beautifully typeset in new designs, accompanied by forewords by the best modern financial writers, printed and bound in high-quality hardcovers on acid-free paper – they are essential long-term additions to the portfolio of every investor and trader.

Charles Mackay (1814-1889) was born in Perth, Scotland, and over a prolific career in letters wrote poetry, journalism, novels, dictionaries and songs. Best-known in his lifetime for the last of these - which were set to music and became phenomenally popular - he is today best remembered for his epic guide to crowd psychology, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, which has never been out of print since its release in 1841.
Educated in Brussels, he began his working life in France before moving to London and writing for the Sun, the Morning Chronicle and the Illustrated London News among others. He was also editor of the Glasgow Argus and Illustrated London News.

He travelled widely (including the USA during the Civil War), published prolifically, married twice, was friends with Charles Dickens and Henry Russell, and died in London.