Why read Crowds and Power?

Book cover of Crowds and Power

Book description

Crowds and Power is a revolutionary work in which Elias Canetti finds a new way of looking at human history and psychology.

Breathtaking in its range and erudition, it explores Shiite festivals and the English Civil war, the finger exercises of monkeys and the effects of inflation in Weimar Germany.…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Crowds and Power as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Jonathan Charteris-Black

Author

I am attracted to books that take a broad theme and examine this across space and time –without being confined to a single academic discipline. Another requirement is that they are written in an elegant and accessible style that commands the reader’s attention. This book originally published in Germany in 1960 satisfies both criteria. It defies ready classification but includes social psychology, social anthropology, and ideas related to myth, ritual, and religion. His concept of ‘the pack’ builds on the abstract notion of ‘the crowd’ and leads to ideas such as ‘transformation.’ As the Brexit vote was a form of…

From Jonathan's list on The best books that reveal the truth about the origins, issues and passions that were aroused by Brexit.