Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds' is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. The book was published in three volumes: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philos

19th-century Scottish poet has a message for our times.

'In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first...Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper... 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. ' - Charles Mackay, L.L.D.

'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds' is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841.
The book was published in three volumes: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions".
Read more:
'The wisdom, and madness, of crowds' - Gregory A Petsko
[Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA]
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2614482/