BOTD: A History of the End of the World

Why worry about things like Iraq, poverty, the environment, government and corporate corruption, etc. when the end of the world is just around the corner, and solving those problems might postpone it?

If the current occupant of the White House "does not speak in the familiar vocabulary of apocalyptic fundamentalism," Kirsch writes, "it is mostly because a new and updated 'language arsenal' has been deployed in contemporary America" -- an arsenal that in this case, Kirsch explains, uses code phrases such as "intelligent design" and "culture of life." But many of the president's policies resonate powerfully with a large fundamentalist community that takes apocalyptic notions, including hose that apply to Israel, with a fervent literalism. For them, and many others, the rapture draws nigh. - Jay Tolson, Washington Post review