vii, 252 pages ; 25 cm

According to recent opinion polls, some 39 percent of Americans say that Bible stories must be read literally and 66 percent say that Jesus will return to earth in the future. This book shows how and why such beliefs first developed in antiquity, and it explores how end-timers influenced events as varied as the persecutions of Hellenistic ruler Antiochus Epiphanes and Roman Emperor Nero, the Crusades, the settlement of North America, and the 20th-century debacles at Jonestown and Waco. Suggesting that anyone who wishes to understand the Middle East today needs to penetrate the background of modern fundamentalism within the three Semitic religions, the author illuminates the part played by Christian Zionists in promoting the return of the Jews to the "promised land" and the resulting formation of the state of Israel, as well as subsequent fundamentalist reactions within both Judaism and Islam. He also follows the birth of the "Christian Right" in 19th-century Britain and its development and growing influence in the United States. Finally, the book examines how religious end-timers confront the four horsemen of the 21st-century apocalypse: world population increase, depletion of natural resources, advanced weaponry, and global warming

Includes bibliographical references and index

Fighting the dragon of chaos: beginnings -- David's righteous branch: the Jewish end-time -- The secret of the kingdom: the Christian end-time -- The book shall be laid down: the Islamic end-time -- The day of Antichrist approaches: Europe before 1346 -- Do not let your sword cool: plague and reformation -- Everything that is hidden is found: mystics and explorers -- Before the end of the world come: a Messianic century -- In the hands of an angry God : end-timers in conflict -- When the Master comes: Messiah and Mahdi -- No other goal than Palestine: Zionists and politicians -- Signs of the times: a troubled world

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