New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. 286 pages. List price: $26.95. ISBN: 0-312-21092-2

Review by: M.C. Steenberg , August 2003

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A compendius survey of millennialist thought from the earliest days of Christian history, through to the present day (more properly, through to the date of the book's publication in 1999). Well-written and provocotive, Longing for the End provides a captivating glimpse at the power that the vision of 'the end' has held over different ages and widely varying groups of individuals.

Throughout the volume, the author's nearly encyclopaedic knowledge of millennial roots in all corners of western civilisaation makes itself evident: Baumgartner addresses millennialism as present in the initial followers of Jesus, the patristic Fathers, the Western middle ages, the German Protestant reformers, the American founding fathers, the French revolutionaries, even modern Russian groups, American Civil and Cold war participants and observers, through to the personalities involved in Jonestown, Waco, and the build-up to 'Y2K'. Often successful at demonstrating strong millennial convictions in persons or movements which are not largely appreciated as millennial (e.g. Christopher Columbus, as on pp. 119-20; or Karl Marx, as on pp. 145-149), the author makes clear the remarkable extent to which millennialism has been an inspiring force throughout the centuries.

Perhaps this compendious character to the book's scope, which is itself a great asset and makes the text a remarkably engaging read, nonetheless also provides it with a certain weakness, for the author cannot help but be rather brief and passing on certain eras and subject areas. His address of millennialism in Russian Orthodoxy, for example, is barely more than a paragraph in length (cf. p. 112); and though the book specifically addresses itself to millennialism in the Western world, it nonetheless would have been interesting to see the author go into a little more detail here, given that the differences in Eastern/Western millennialism themselves have a great deal to say about the character of the West, which is of considerable importance to the text.

This criticism not withstanding, Longing for the End still represents a remarkable study and a very thoughtful consideration of the breadth and scope of millennialism in Western society. It comes highly recommended by this reviewer to anyone wishing to explore the manner in which this society has taken Christian (and other) images of 'the end' to be influential in the course of life.

The present text is available online through the following e-retailers:

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The reviewer of the present text recommends the following works as those which may be of interest to readers of this title:

• [None offered]