Comment by _dain_

8 hours ago

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a rollicking fun read

Just know that it isn’t considered a reliable historical record, a good amount of the book is exaggerated and some of the sources were newspaper parodies interpreted as facts. Still a good read though

Seconded. It's almost encyclopedic in scope. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that the hilarious chapter on English slang of the time was my favorite.