The powerHouse Arena invites you to
a reading

NOSTRADAMUS

How An Obscure Renaissance Astrologer Became The Modern Prophet Of Doom

by
Stéphane Gerson

Wednesday, December 12, 7–9 PM

The powerHouse Arena · 37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St.) · DUMBO, Brooklyn
For more information, please call 718.666.3049
RSVP appreciated: RSVP@powerHouseArena.com

Historian Stéphane Gerson reads and signs his latest, a scholarly exploration of the life and afterlife of Michel de Nostredame, the astrologer whose Prophecies have been interpreted, adapted by successive media, and eventually transformed into the Gospel of Doom for the modern age.

About the book:

Nostradamus has captured our collective imagination for centuries. His predictions have endured long after his lifetime and creation of his famous work, Prophecies, and continue to hold a firm place in contemporary pop culture and philosophical debate. Yet, so much about his life and legacy remains unknown. In his compelling historical biography, NOSTRADAMUS; HOW AN OBSCURE RENAISSANCE ASTROLOGER BECAME THE MODERN PROPHET OF DOOM (St. Martin's Press), Stéphane Gerson chronicles the life and influence of the Renaissance astrologer who rose from obscurity to command the attention of kings and popes, and millions of others to follow.

How did the Nostradamus phenomenon come to be? And how has it prevailed over time? By the time of his death in 1566, Nostradamus had become a celebrity. In 1666, guests at posh English dinner parties discussed his quatrains about the Great Fire of London. In 1942, the Jewish writer Irène Némirovsky latched her hopes for survival in Nazi-occupied France to Nostradamus' prediction that the war would soon end. And within hours of the 9/11 attacks, the name Nostradamus began feverishly circulating. During his lifetime, and in the five centuries to follow, Nostradamus has offered certainty and solace whenever we enter a new era or whenever the premises of our worldview are questioned or imperiled. In moving beyond Nostradame's life to chronicle the interest in his prophecies over the ages, Gerson offers historical truths and analysis to the man himself and the power, influence and validity his predictions. By charting the avid interest in Nostradamus over time, NOSTRADAMUS is a biography of both a man and a belief – the endless faith that we can know tomorrow and master our fears through the powers of an extraordinary seer.

About the Author:

Stéphane Gerson is a prize-winning cultural historian and professor of history at New York University. He edited the new edition of Nostradamus's Prophecies, released in July 2012. Gerson is an Associate Professor of French at NYU. He lives in Manhattan and Woodstock, New York, with his family.

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