The End of the World as We Know It: Faith, Fatalism, and Apocalypse in America

The End of the World as We Know It: Faith, Fatalism, and Apocalypse in America. By Daniel Wojcik. New York: New York University Press, 1997. 281pp. hdbk. $50.00/pbk. $18.95 Illus. ISBN 0 8147 9283 9

Americans often have the reputation for being slightly paranoid and having a fondness for complex conspiracy theories about world domination. Apparently this is not a new phenomenon, for fears of the end of civilisation and the rise of Satan, along with the associated promise of following rapture and paradise, have apparently captivated Americans since the earliest European settlements on the continent. In this lively and readable work, Daniel Wojcik has presented the history of apocalyptic thought in America as expressed throughout an amazingly wide range of popular culture and belief. The author analyses a number of diverse texts, including popular films, jokes and songs, while also incorporating fieldwork that he conducted among Punks from Los Angeles and New York and believers in the Marian apparitions of Bayside, New York.

The first section of the work is an examination of apocalypticism in American religious belief as attested from the earliest Puritan and Calvinist texts down to the popular writings of Christian futurist writer Hal Lindsay, the Marian apparitions of the Bayside community in New York, and the Heaven's Gate cult. This is followed by a section on secular manifestations of apocalyptic belief in late-twentieth-century popular culture ranging from film and the visual arts to Punk. Wojcik continues with a particularly chilling account of the influence of fatalism and apocalyptic belief on American cold war and post-cold war politics. The book concludes with a chapter on emergent UFO beliefs, which Wojcik presents as a synthesis of religious and secular themes, particularly in the emphasis on the imminent destruction of the world and the redemption of humanity by a higher power.

Wojcik provides an excellent historical background for this study, identifying apocalyptic beliefs as an historically pervasive theme throughout American culture. He defines his terms very well, and provides a great service to the uninitiated by providing the reader with cogent explanations of terms such as dispensationalism, pre- and post-millenialism. If there is any downside to this text it would be that the author almost attempts to do too much. There is a sophisticated, in-depth study of the beliefs and practices of the Bayside community (based on fieldwork), whereas the nuclear bomb in American art, admittedly a complex subject, only receives three paragraphs of attention. In fact, much of the secular material lacks the socio-historical context that Wojcik ably provides for the earlier religious material. The section on Punk, particularly in its American manifestation, needs more background. The work as a whole reads as somewhat unbalanced in this respect, yet the scope of the data makes the imbalance understandable.

Wojcik needs to be particularly commended for the respect with which he treats his informants and texts, and they way he mediates them for his audience. At no time does he ever write from an ethnographic position "above" his material or the people he is working with. Reading his accounts of the Baysiders one gets the impression that he worked very hard to understand methods and beliefs which might seem rather unconventional, and he provides a good model for anyone investigating popular culture or "nontraditional" religious expressions. From this perspective, these sections could be very useful in a course on fieldwork methodology and writing. Wojcik also supplies rich textual and visual examples which not only serve to strengthen his evidence, but are entertaining as well. The centre section contains evangelistic comic book illustrations, rapture place mats, and a wide variety of pictorial interpretations of alien abductions.

The End of the World as We Know It reads as a truly American work, which goes a long way toward revealing the roots and the scope of this deeply embedded cultural preoccupation. This volume will be of particular value to students of religion, but will also be very useful in American Studies and Cultural Studies. Highly recommended.

Amy Hale, Institute of Cornish Studies, University of Exeter

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