{"product_id":"the-devils-best-trick-randall-sullivan-9780802119131","title":"The Devil's Best Trick","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart true crime story, part religious and literary history, an investigation into the nature of evil and the figure of the Devil by acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThroughout history, humans have struggled to explain the\u003cbr\u003eevils of the world and the darkest parts of ourselves. \u003ci\u003eThe Devil's Best\u003cbr\u003eTrick\u003c\/i\u003e is a unique and far-reaching investigation into evil and the\u003cbr\u003emyriad ways we attempt to understand it - particularly through the figure of\u003cbr\u003ethe Devil.Sullivan's narrative moves through centuries of historical, \u003cbr\u003ereligious, and cultural conceptions of evil and the Devil: from the\u003cbr\u003eMesopotamian and Egyptian gods to the Book of Job to the New Testament to the\u003cbr\u003ewitch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th centuries to the history of the\u003cbr\u003edevil-worshipping \"Black Mass\" ceremony and its depictions in 19th-century\u003cbr\u003eFrench literature. He references major literary, religious and historical\u003cbr\u003efigures, from the Persian sages Zoroaster and Mani, Plato, Thomas Aquinas, John\u003cbr\u003eMilton, Edgar Allan Poe, Aleister Crowley, and many more, among them Charles\u003cbr\u003eBaudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book.But this is not just a cultural history - Sullivan\u003cbr\u003eintersperses original reporting and personal reflection. He travels to\u003cbr\u003eCatemaco, Mexico, to participate in the \"Hour of the Witches\" -- an annual\u003cbr\u003eceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera\u003cbr\u003eCruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and\u003cbr\u003ebest-documented exorcism in American history, which occurred in 1928 and lasted\u003cbr\u003efour months. He ponders the psychology of evil through his encounter with one\u003cbr\u003ebrutal serial killer and he reports on the \"Satanic Panic\" of the 1980s, \u003cbr\u003edetailing the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, \u003cbr\u003eunraveled into paranoia after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from\u003cbr\u003ethe branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about cult worship spread\u003cbr\u003ethroughout the wider community.\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRandall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has\u003cbr\u003ebeen called \"extraordinary\" and \"enthralling\" by \u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cbr\u003etakes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a\u003cbr\u003elook at how evil manifests in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Randall Sullivan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0802119131\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802119131\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Atlantic Monthly Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/14\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.10lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.06h x 5.98w x 1.42d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/01\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/22\/2024","brand":"Randall Sullivan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44810038935807,"sku":"9780802119131","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_928d30c3-2d75-4644-afaa-68a5960d6f9f.jpg?v=1707928165","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-devils-best-trick-randall-sullivan-9780802119131","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}