Book & podcast collection

Comet Madness: How the 1910 Return of Halley’s Comet (Almost) Destroyed Civilization

byRichard Goodrich

Richard Goodrich recreates the worldwide excitement and panic surrounding Halley's Comet in 1910. Although astronomy had made its orbit predictable, newspapers, entrepreneurs, religious figures, scientists, and fraudsters turned the return into a spectacle filled with apocalyptic rumors. Reports that Earth would pass through the comet's poisonous tail inspired gas masks, patent remedies, parties, sermons, and fear. The book shows modern science and ancient superstition flourishing side by side within a new mass-media culture. Goodrich uses the episode to explore how public uncertainty becomes entertainment, commerce, and contagious belief.

Publisher

Prometheus Books, Publishers

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

282

ISBN

9781633888562