Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse in Contemporary England / Edition 1

by Jean La Fontaine

Overview

The first modern allegations of satanic sexual abuse surfaced in North America during the 1980s, followed a few years later by similar allegations in Britain. Professor La Fontaine, an anthropologist, has studied the literature on satanic abuse in England and conducted a detailed analysis of a number of actual cases. She found no evidence of devil worship. She concludes that behind the hysteria is a social movement, comparable to classic instances of witchcraft accusations and the witch hunts in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521629348
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/12/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.55(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The personification of evil; 3. Witches, satanists and the occult; 4. The extent of the allegations; 5. The question of proof; 6. Explaining belief; 7. Children's stories; 8. Confessions and tales of horror; 9. A modern movement of witch-finders; 10. Aftermath and conclusions; Notes; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'This modest book is an important contribution to the expanding grey area in which Sociology and Social Anthropology overlap … In general this book must be of very wide interest and it is an excellent demonstration of how valuable the theory and fieldwork of traditional Social Anthropology can be for a problem-oriented study of contemporary society.' Cambridge Anthropology

From the Publisher