This book is an exploration of the historical and cultural influence of the Book of Revelation, examining its impact on Western thought, art, and political ideologies.

Long a fount of our collective dreams and nightmares, the book of Revelation holds a central place within the Western imagination. As much or more than any other single source, this short document has furnished the basic materials from which our symbolic universe is constructed. The stereotypical image of heaven, for example—streets paved with gold, angels strumming harps, saints garbed in white robes, God sitting on his throne—is derived, in large part, from its word pi...