THE STORY: Jabez Stone, young farmer, has just been married, and the guests are dancing at his wedding. But Jabez carries a burden, for he knows that, having sold his soul to the Devil, he must, on the stroke of midnight, deliver it up to him. Shortly before twelve Mr. Scratch, lawyer, enters and the company is thunderstruck. Jabez bids his guests begone; he has made his bargain and will pay the price. His bride, however, stands by him, and so will Daniel Webster, who has come for the festivities. Webster takes the case. But Scratch is a lawyer himself and out-argues the statesman. Webster demands a jury of real Americans, living or dead. Very well, agrees the Devil, he shall have them, and ghosts appear. Webster thunders, but to no avail, and at last realizing Scratch can better him on technical grounds, he changes his tactics and appeals to the ghostly jury, men who have retained some love of country. Rising to the height of his powers, Webster performs the miracle of winning a verdict of Not Guilty.
A groundbreaking--and terrifying--examination of the widespread resurgence of antisemitism in the 21st century, by the prize-winning and #1 internationally bestselling author of Hitler's Willing Executioners. Antisemitism never went away, but since the turn of the century it has multiplied beyond what anyone would have predicted. It is openly spread by intellectuals, politicians and religious leaders in Europe, Asia, the Arab world, America and Africa and supported by hundreds of millions more. Indeed, today antisemitism is stronger than any time since the Holocaust. In THE DEVIL THAT NEVER DIES, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen reveals the unprecedented, global form of this age-old hatred; its strategic use by states; its powerful appeal to individuals and groups; and how technology has fueled the flames that had been smoldering prior to the millennium. A remarkable work of intellectual brilliance, moral stature, and urgent alarm, THE DEVIL THAT NEVER DIES is destined to be one of the most provocative and talked-about books of the year.
Danny Silverman, a gay Jewish novelist, is invited to give a speech on humanism at a church college in Minnesota, where he gets snowed in with a hostile audience of Christian fundamentalists.
Satire by the author of Robinson Crusoe examines the rise of the historical force known as "the devil," from Satan's origins to devilish influences on 18th-century monarchs and ordinary folk.
New York Times bestselling author Jeff Rovin has held readers in breathless suspense with his Tom Clancy’s Op-Center novels. He has created compelling characters with vividly rendered emotions and actions. His page-turning thrillers have addressed questions of good and evil in our times. Now, Rovin confronts the question of Good and Evil on the ultimate battleground. A human soul hangs in the balance, and thousands of years of religious teachings depict only the beginning of the fight for dominion over man. Psychologist Sarah Lynch is stunned when one of her young patients hangs himself. Evidence reveals that Fredric had become a Satanist. Intending to solve the puzzle of Fredric’s death, Sarah attempts to conjure the devil—surely then she will understand what the teenager was thinking. Sarah knows that belief in God and the Devil is a construct of the human mind and that people contain within them both good and evil. Her own family is the perfect example. Sarah’s mother is still in denial about her dead husband’s alcoholism, but acts as a wonderful grandparent to the son of the family’s live-in housekeeper. Her alcoholic brother bounces from girlfriend to girlfriend and job to job, but is always there when Sarah needs him. And Sarah herself? She lost her faith more than a decade ago, during a personal crisis. But she is dedicated to giving others the help she did not receive. Even the nun who is Sarah’s best friend cannot break through Sarah’s shield of cynicism. But Satan can. The Devil himself rises in Sarah’s office, sometimes a being of dark smoke and sometimes a creature of all-too-perfect, seductive flesh. Most disturbing is Satan’s claim that only by following him can people find real happiness. In the Devil’s theology, God is a brutal, jealous bully. And as God and Satan battle for Sarah’s soul, Sarah comes to believe him. She forgets that he is the Master of Lies . . . .
Satan is not God’s enemy in the Bible, and he’s not always bad—much less evil. Through the lens of the Old and New Testaments, Erik Butler explores the Devil in literature, theology, visual art, and music from antiquity up to the present, discussing canonical authors (Dante, Milton, and Goethe among them) and a wealth of lesser-known sources. Since his first appearance in the Book of Job, Satan has pursued a single objective: to test human beings, whose moral worth and piety leave plenty of room for doubt. Satan can be manipulative, but at worst he facilitates what mortals are inclined to do anyway. “The Devil made me do it” does not hold up in the court of cosmic law. With wit and surprising examples, this book explains why.