The Mask of Nostradamus, by James Randi

The Mask of Nostradamus: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Prophet, by James Randi
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1990
223 pages plus Appendices, Bibliography and Index, 8 pages of photos
Library: 1333.3 RAN


Description
Here is a classic encounter - today's most celebrated investigator of the supernatural versus the most famous of all prophets, the legendary 16th-century astrologer and physician, Nostradamus.

In The Mask of Nostradamus, James Randi, a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant winner, writes the first in-depth interpretive biography of the man whom some claim predicted such events as the Great Fire of London, the rise of Napoleon and Hitler, even Watergate. His legendary work The Centuries, a unique book of prophecies, has captured multitudes of readers for more than four centuries.

Randi's research and analysis illuminate Nostradamus' historic origins, his bona fide role as a physician, what his amazingly ingenious prophecies forecast, the factual truth of his alleged prophetc successes, and how the rationalizations of Nostradamus' armies of followers have perpetuated his fame through the ages.

Renowned for his exposes of "New Age" charlatans, Randi explains how this cleverest of all astrologers flourished in his own time. He shows how Nostradamus skillfully used ambiguous phraeology and sometimes "predicted" events after their occurrence. But Randi is more understanding of Nostradamus than implacably hostile, and drawing on recent research reveals how Nostradamus risked death in the Inquisition for his genuine Protestant beliefs.

An internationally celebrated magician, Randi is devoted to truth, deploring any victimization of the gullible. His portrait of Nostradamus will stand as the first serious exploration of this complex figure whose life still reverbrates in our times.

Contents
Acknowledgments
1. My search begins: A Natural Curiosity about anomalies
2. Genesis of a prophet: Nostradamus' origins and family history
3. The Secret of Success: How to be a prophet - in 8 easy steps
4. The Right time and the right pllace: The Period, the politics and the persons
5. Medicine in the 16th century: The beginnings of medical science
6. When Magic Ruled: An age of sorcerers
7. Just What is astrology?: The idea, the flummery, and the methods, then and now
8. The World WAr II quatrains and their creators: How Nostradamus was drafted into service in World WAr II
9. Contemporary Seers: Nostradamus' fellow oracles
10. The Nostradamians: Interpreters of the Prophecies
11. The Ten Quatrains: Evidence of Imagination gone wild
12. The Legend Begins: The Death of Nostradamus and the Birth of the New Mythology

Appendices
1. the Royal lineage
2. The anonymous document concerning the 1555 edition
3. Important dates in the Nostradmmus' story
4. Some end-of-the-world prophecies - that failed
Bibliography
Index