As the end of the century approaches, there is a growing fascination with the apocalyptic prophecies made down through the ages that claim to set the seal of our fate in the coming millennium. The prophets foretold the warming of the planet; new plagues; natural disasters, including the wiping out of a major capital city by a giant meteor; and climatic destruction. This book consults all the oracles, whether they be ancient or modern, astrological or terrestrial. The author has unearthed the prophecies of ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, delved into the Dark Ages for the inscriptions of sorcerers, spirits and scryers, and revealed the electric predictions of Nostradamus for the 21st century as well as describing a state of tragic chaos that, according to the soothsayers, will come to pass in America. But the remarkable future events mapped out in detail in this highly illustrated book are not all of apocalyptic proportions and, as Stephen Skinner reveals, bogus prophecies and bogus prophets have abounded throughout the history of this imprecise science. Optimists will take heart from this and perhaps approach the book with a more light-hearted sceptical view of what the future holds.