In this thought-provoking, big-idea book, Betsy Hartmann sheds light on a pervasive but - until now - invisible theme shaping the American mindset: apocalyptic thinking, or the belief that the end of the world is nigh. Tracing America's fixation with doomsday from the Puritans to the present, Hartmann makes a compelling case that apocalyptic fears are deeply intertwined with the American ethos, much to the country's detriment, and shows what can be done to challenge this way of thinking.