Apocalyptic Anxiety traces the sources of American culture’s obsession with predicting and preparing for the apocalypse. Author Anthony Aveni explores why Americans take millennial claims seriously, where and how end-of-the-world predictions emerge, how they develop within a broader historical framework, and what we can learn from doomsday predictions of the past. The book begins with the Millerites, the nineteenth-century religious sect of Pastor William Miller, who used biblical calculations to predict October 22, 1844 as the date for the Second Advent of Christ. Aveni also examines several other religious and philosophical movements that have centered on apocalyptic themes—Christian millennialism, the New Age movement and the Age of Aquarius, and various other nineteenth- and early twentieth-century religious sects, concluding with a focus on the Maya mystery of 2012 and the contemporary prophets who connected the end of the world as we know it with the overturning of the Maya calendar. Apocalyptic Anxiety places these seemingly never-ending stories of the world’s end in the context of American history. This fascinating exploration of the deep historical and cultural roots of America’s voracious appetite for apocalypse will appeal to students of American history and the histories of religion and science, as well as lay readers interested in American culture and doomsday prophecies.

The epic post-apocalyptic series continues... In Phobia, you experienced the collapse of society as a mysterious outbreak of a highly lethal virus ravaged the globe and thousands perished from the contagious illness. Now Frank must make impossible choices and risk everything in order to survive. He was sure that escaping to his island would mean safety for him and the survivors. But a dangerous adversary has other plans. Survival has just begun. Frank Talbot must decide how far he's willing to go in order to survive, even if it means taking a life. Friendships will be made. Loyalties will be tested. All mercy is gone. Desperation breeds anxiety. Their survival depends on fighting back - and they're determined to survive.

In Apocalyptic Dread, Kirsten Moana Thompson examines how fears and anxieties about the future are reflected in recent American cinema. Through close readings of such films as Cape Fear, Candyman, Dolores Claiborne, Se7en, Signs, and War of the Worlds, Thompson argues that a longstanding American apocalyptic tradition permeates our popular culture, spreading from science-fiction and disaster films into horror, crime, and melodrama. Drawing upon Kierkegaard's notion of dread—that is, a fundamental anxiety and ambivalence about existential choice and the future—Thompson suggests that the apocalyptic dread revealed in these films, and its guiding tropes of violence, retribution, and renewal, also reveal deep-seated anxieties about historical fragmentation and change, anxieties that are in turn displaced onto each film's particular "monster," whether human, demonic, or eschatological.

Contrary to our popular narrative, "apocalypse" is not a final destruction of the world. Apocalypse is Toto, pulling back the curtain on the con-man behind the terrifying Wizard of Oz. And we have as many Totos as we have cons.We also have lots of worlds we inhabit, any one of which can come to a sudden, terrifying end. The fear inherent in massive events like death, divorce, desertion, or destitution can be an ending or beginning.How can you keep fear from derailing your life? Partner with it.Apocalyptic Best Practices helps people navigate sudden, massive change and the fear that is our anti-hero. It helps you engage fear as an ally rather than an enemy.Use this book to learn tactics for making space that's safe enough to understand your fear. Learn how to identify how the world around you weaponizes fear to control you. Understand how to engage with fear and learn how to use it as a compass to empower yourself to make confident choices that truly reflect your values.

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • An absorbing, deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with the future, by the author of the award-winning To Be a Machine. “Deeply funny and life-affirming, with a warm, generous outlook even on the most challenging of subjects.” —Esquire We’re alive in a time of worst-case scenarios: The weather has gone uncanny. A pandemic draws our global community to a halt. Everywhere you look there’s an omen, a joke whose punchline is the end of the world. How is a person supposed to live in the shadow of such a grim future? What might it be like to live through the worst? And what on earth is anybody doing about it? Dublin-based writer Mark O’Connell is consumed by these questions—and, as the father of two young children, he finds them increasingly urgent. In Notes from an Apocalypse, he crosses the globe in pursuit of answers. He tours survival bunkers in South Dakota. He ventures to New Zealand, a favored retreat of billionaires banking on civilization’s collapse. He engages with would-be Mars colonists, preppers, right-wing conspiracists. And he bears witness to places, like Chernobyl, that the future has already visited—real-life portraits of the end of the world as we know it. What emerges is an absorbing, funny, and deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with what’s ahead.

For reclusive germophobe, Frank Talbot, dealing with his crippling fear of contamination and germs has always been a challenge, but now he may have no choice. After a mysterious outbreak of a highly lethal virus ravages the globe and hundreds succumb to the contagious illness, the U.S government instigates a cordon sanitaire in major cities to contain it from spreading rapidly around the nation. At the onset of the epidemic, his ex-wife, Kate, an epidemiologist for the CDC, warns Frank and their daughter, Ella to prepare for the worst. The only hope of survival is retreating to their cottage on one of the isolated islands in the St. Lawrence River. Easy for Frank, he's already there but when his daughter suffers a major setback, Frank is forced out of his comfort zone. As riots ensue and electrical fences are breached, the H9N3 Agora Virus is unleashed and becomes unstoppable. Transportation systems cease, grocery stores are looted, hospitals become infectious morgues, and chaos erupts. Now his greatest fear is about to become his reality. Frank must embark on a dangerous journey into the heart of an infected country, to rescue his daughter before society collapses. Will ruthless men stop him, or his own fear?

Apocalypse-definition: the complete final destruction of the world, especially as described from the Book of Revelation in The Bible; an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic level. Eighteen bestselling and award-winning authors have contributed their visions of the apocalypse. Classic sci-fi writer William F. Nolan adds to his canon with a tale from his futuristic Logan’s Run series. Creator of the popular Repairman Jack series, F. Paul Wilson presents his vision of a world where vampires have become the ruling race. Bestselling author Heather Graham serves up her apocalyptic nightmare. Horror master Tim Waggoner terrifies with a tale of the World After. Master writer, screenwriter, and creator of classic video games Matthew Costello offers up a post-apocalyptic tale of terror, cannibalism, and a vacation gone so wrong. Icon of classic science fiction and fantasy, Ron Goulart, spins a tale of futuristic famine and desperation. Also new stories from the new breed of award-winning authors including: Jason V Brock, Lisa Mannetti, Patrick Freivald, Lee Lawless, Tori Eldridge, and Brendan Deneen. s this the end of times? You decide.