The devil's best trick: how the face of evil disappeared
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ISBN:
9780802119131
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Grouping Information
| Grouped Work ID | ea92e740-22f3-9586-8710-333d5ad0b9b4 |
|---|---|
| Grouping Title | devils best trick how the face of evil disappeared |
| Grouping Author | randall sullivan |
| Grouping Category | book |
| Grouping Language | English (eng) |
| Last Grouping Update | 2025-07-29 05:08:25AM |
| Last Indexed | 2025-08-09 05:14:06AM |
Solr Fields
accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Sullivan, Randall
author_display
Sullivan, Randall
available_at_catalog
Duraleigh Road Community
Eva H. Perry Regional
Green Road Community
North Regional
Northeast Regional
Oberlin Regional
Eva H. Perry Regional
Green Road Community
North Regional
Northeast Regional
Oberlin Regional
collection_catalog
Adult Non-Fiction
detailed_location_catalog
Duraleigh Road - Adult Non-Fiction
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Green Road Community - Adult Non-Fiction
North Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Northeast Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Oberlin Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Green Road Community - Adult Non-Fiction
North Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Northeast Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Oberlin Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
display_description
"Part 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. How we explain the evils of the world-and the darkest parts of ourselves-has preoccupied humans throughout history. A sweeping and comprehensive search for the origins of belief in a Satanic figure across the centuries, The Devil's Best Trick is a keen investigation into the inescapable reality of evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it. Instructive, riveting, and unnerving, this is a profound rumination on crime, violence, and the darkness in all of us. In The Devil's Best Trick, Randall Sullivan travels to Catemaco, Mexico, to participate in the "Hour of the Witches"-an annual ceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera Cruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and best-documented exorcism in American history, which lasted four months. And, woven throughout, he delivers original reporting on the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, unraveled into paranoia and panic after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from the branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about Satanic worship and cults spread throughout the wider community. Sullivan also brilliantly melds historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil: from the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries to the history of the devil-worshipping "Black Mass" ceremony and its depictions in nineteenth century French literature. He brings us through to the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s and the story of one brutal serial killer, pondering the psychology of evil. He weaves in writings by John Milton, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and many more, among them Charles Baudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book. Nimble and expertly researched, The Devil's Best Trick brilliantly melds cultural and historical commentary and a suspenseful true-crime narrative. Randall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has been called "extraordinary" and "enthralling" by Rolling Stone, takes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a look at how evil manifests in the world"--
format_catalog
Book
format_category_catalog
Books
id
ea92e740-22f3-9586-8710-333d5ad0b9b4
isbn
9780802119131
last_indexed
2025-08-09T09:14:06.676Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
235 SULLI
owning_library_catalog
Wake County Public Libraries
owning_location_catalog
Duraleigh Road Community
Eva H. Perry Regional
Green Road Community
North Regional
Northeast Regional
Oberlin Regional
Eva H. Perry Regional
Green Road Community
North Regional
Northeast Regional
Oberlin Regional
primary_isbn
9780802119131
publishDate
2024
publisher
Atlantic Monthly Press
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Devil
Exorcism
Good and evil -- Psychological aspects
Exorcism
Good and evil -- Psychological aspects
title_display
The devil's best trick : how the face of evil disappeared
title_full
The devil's best trick : how the face of evil disappeared / Randall Sullivan
title_short
The devil's best trick
title_sub
how the face of evil disappeared
topic_facet
Devil
Exorcism
Good and evil
Psychological aspects
Exorcism
Good and evil
Psychological aspects
Solr Details Tables
item_details
| Bib Id | Item Id | Shelf Location | Call Num | Format | Format Category | Num Copies | Is Order Item | Is eContent | eContent Source | eContent URL | Detailed Status | Last Checkin | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ils:787753 | 8589334 | North Regional - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | Checked out | NOR | |||||
| ils:787753 | 8589331 | Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | EVA | |||||
| ils:787753 | 8589330 | Duraleigh Road - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | DUR | |||||
| ils:787753 | 8589327 | Oberlin Regional - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | OBR | |||||
| ils:787753 | 8589328 | Green Road Community - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | GRE | |||||
| ils:787753 | 8589332 | Northeast Regional - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | NER | |||||
| ils:787753 | 8589333 | North Regional - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | NOR | |||||
| ils:787753 | 8589329 | Oberlin Regional - Adult Non-Fiction | 235 SULLI | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | OBR |
record_details
| Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ils:787753 | Book | Books | First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition | English | Atlantic Monthly Press | 2024 | xi, 333 pages ; 24 cm |
scoping_details_catalog
| Bib Id | Item Id | Grouped Status | Status | Locally Owned | Available | Holdable | Bookable | In Library Use Only | Library Owned | Is Home Pick Up Only | Holdable PTypes | Bookable PTypes | Home Pick Up PTypes | Local Url |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ils:787753 | 8589334 | Checked out | Checked out | false | false | true | false | false | true | false | ||||
| ils:787753 | 8589331 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | false | ||||
| ils:787753 | 8589330 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | false | ||||
| ils:787753 | 8589327 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | false | ||||
| ils:787753 | 8589328 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | false | ||||
| ils:787753 | 8589332 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | false | ||||
| ils:787753 | 8589333 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | false | ||||
| ils:787753 | 8589329 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | false |