Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton, 2006. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. xviii + 286pp. Green cloth spine with beige papered boards, gilt lettering to spine. Notes, bibliography and index. B&w illustrations. From the publisher: "The first work to provide an in-depth analysis of the topic, the book uses anthropology, the history of religion, sociology, and psychoanalytic theory, to answer the questions "What causes people collectively to envision evil and seek to exterminate it?" and "Why does the representation of evil recur in such typical patterns?" Frankfurter guides the reader through such diverse subjects as witch-hunting, the origins of demonology, cannibalism, and the rumors of Jewish ritual murder, demonstrating how societies have long expanded upon their fears of such atrocities to address a collective anxiety. Thus, he maintains, panics over modern-day infant sacrifice are really not so different from rumors about early Christians engaging in infant feasts during the second and third centuries in Rome. Frankfurter deepens historical awareness that stories of Satanic atrocities are both inventions of the mind and perennial phenomena, not authentic criminal events. True evil, as he so artfully demonstrates, is not something organized and corrupting, but rather a social construction that inspires people to brutal acts in the name of moral order." Although not marked as such, this volume is from the collection of occult scholar and author, Stephen Skinner. Spine ends lightly bruised otherwise a tight bright near Fine copy in near Fine dust jacket. Item #57549
ISBN: 9780691113505
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