Free The Real History of the End of the World by Sharan Newman

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Copyright © 2010 Sharan Newman
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    PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley trade paperback edition/ April 2010
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    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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    Newman, Sharan.
    p. cm.
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    eISBN : 978-1-101-18660-2
    1. End of the world—History of doctrines. 2. Prophecies—History. I. Title.
    BL503.N49 2010
    202′.309—dc22
    2009050669
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    http://us.penguingroup.com

This book is dedicated to all the Chicken Littles among us, who are sure
that the sky will soon fall. Someday you will be right.
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    And for Rebecca Hill and John Parks, who shared the load.

Acknowledgments
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    Deborah Adams, for urging me to send in the proposal for this book when I was just going to delete it.
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    Erika Johnson Bayless, for telling me how to put it all together.
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    Jennifer Johnson Bell, for teaching me how to make a table.
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    Dr. Eddie Chan, for finding esoteric groups for me to study.
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    Professor Armin Geertz, Aarhus University, Denmark, for proofing my section on the Hopi.
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    Professor Susan D. Gillespie, University of Florida, for directing me to references on the Mayan calendar.
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    Professor Salima Ikram, American University of Cairo, Professor Aidan Dodson, Bristol University, and Dr. Barbara Mertz for references on ancient Egyptian eschatology and making sure I didn’t spell Osiris as if he were a Roman.
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    Morgan Kay, for taking time from her dissertation to check my information on Merlin.
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    Steven Lavoie, of the Oakland Library, for sending me references to the Doomsealers.
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    Connie L. F. Terwilliger, for suggesting the proper group to dedicate this book to.
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    As always, any mistakes in this book are mine alone.

The Beginning of the End
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    I t may seem strange, if not impossible, to write a history of something that hasn’t happened yet. I could point out that if I wait until it does, there will be very few readers to benefit from my work. But it makes more sense to explain that this is really a history of how people all over the world and through time have thought about