American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty [Paperback]

Michael W. Cuneo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

A guided tour through the burgeoning business of exorcism and the darker side of American life.
There is no other religious ritual more fascinating, or more disturbing, than exorcism. This is particularly true in America today, where the ancient rite has a surprisingly strong hold on our imagination, and on our popular entertainment industry. We’ve all heard of exorcism, seen the movies and read the books, but few of us have ever experienced it firsthand.
Conducted by exorcists officially appointed by Catholic archdioceses and by maverick priests sidestepping Church sanctions, by evangelical ministers and Episcopal charismatics, exorcism is alive and well in the new millennium. Oprah, Diane Sawyer, and Barbara Walters have featured exorcists on their shows. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, and other publications have charted the proliferation of exorcisms across the United States. Last year, the Archdiocese of Chicago appointed its first full-time exorcist in its 160-year history; in New York, four priests have officially investigated about forty cases of suspected possession every year since 1995.

American Exorcism is an inside look at this burgeoning phenomenon, written with objectivity, insight, and just the right touch of irony. Michael W. Cuneo attended more than fifty exorcisms and interviewed many of the participants–both the exorcists who performed the rituals and the people from all walks of life who believed they were possessed by the devil. He brings vividly to life the ceremonies themselves, conjuring up memories of Linda Blair’s astonishing performance in the 1973 movie The Exorcist and other bizarre (and sometimes stomach-churning) images. Cuneo dissects, as well, the arguments of such well-known exorcism advocates as Malachi Martin, author of the controversial Hostage to the Devil, self-help guru M. Scott Peck, and self-professed demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren of Amityville Horror fame.

As he explores this netherworld of American life, Cuneo reflects on the meaning of exorcism in the twenty-first century and on the relationship between religious ritual and popular culture. Touching on such provocative topics as the “satanic panics” of the 1980s, repressed memory, and ritual abuse, American Exorcism is a remarkably revealing, consistently entertaining work of cultural commentary.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1973, the film version of The Exorcist seared Linda Blair's head-spinning, vomit-spewing rendition of demonic possession into the popular consciousness. The movie's popularity, according to sociologist and anthropologist Michael W. Cuneo, tapped into Americans' deepest spiritual anxieties and helped spawn a "booming business" for Catholic, Protestant, and freelance exorcists that shows no signs of slowing. American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty begins with a cultural history of exorcism from the 1960s to the present day. Then the book offers a wealth of case studies, based on the author's firsthand observation of dozens of contemporary exorcisms performed by New Age entrepreneurs and clerics of Christian traditions. But Cuneo's explanation of exorcism's popularity--that the rite allows believers to absolve themselves of responsibility for problems, including "depression, anxiety, substance addiction, or even a runaway sexual appetite," by offering assurance that "Indwelling demons are to blame"--seems merely a pretext for his scathing judgment of the whole phenomenon. "Personal engineering through demon expulsion: a bit messy perhaps, but relatively fast and cheap, and morally exculpatory. A thoroughly American arrangement." Cuneo's judgment may or may not be correct, but his research appears sloppy ("widely quoted" sources go unidentified, and sweeping cultural observations are unsubstantiated by footnotes). And his prose is littered with smug double-entendres such as "The pop culture industry cast its spell, so to speak, and an obliging nation fell into line." In both its argument and style, American Exorcism is every bit as lazy and sensationalistic as the phenomenon it purports to criticize. --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Not so long ago pundits were complaining that Americans had lost their sense of evil; "no one cares about Satan anymore," they sighed. This mesmerizing study proves them utterly misguided. Cuneo, an intrepid sociologist based at Fordham University, explores the bizarre subculture of renegade priests, rough-and-tumble preachers, shady psychiatrists and tormented souls, spewing foulness. Building on his earlier surveys along the fringes of contemporary Catholicism, the "openmindedly skeptical" author interviewed hundreds of believers and attended dozens of exorcisms, here described in mordant deadpan. The current plague of demonic infestation among charismatics and evangelicals, Cuneo proposes, has less to do with the machinations of hell than the productions of Hollywood. Popular books and movies have blamed malevolent spirits for a wide range of maladies everything from voices in one's head, to twinges in one's groin, to dissatisfaction in one's heart. And they have established models of behavior for both the possessed and their heroic deliverers: Regan and Father Damien of The Exorcist have scores of real-life imitators. The rise of a new therapeutic ethos also has something to do with it. Aimed at curing addiction, compulsion and other psychological problems, exorcism has become "a recovery program with a supernatural twist." Lucidly written and riveting as any horror novel, Cuneo's excursion into the darker paths of American faith offers a deeply disturbing, ironic vision of what he sees as the unintended consequences of popular culture for the modern religious imagination.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767910095
• ISBN-13: 978-0767910095
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable insights and investigation, but more theory needed, February 22, 2003

By 

R. Bartholomew "Bartholomew" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty (Hardcover)

The period since the early 1970s has seen a huge rise in Americans seeking relief from demons. The possessed have sought exorcism, while those merely "oppressed" by diabolic forces have received "the deliverance ministry". Cuneo's study is an in-depth exploration of the different Christian groups in America offering these services.

Cuneo's thesis is that two factors have led to this upsurge of demand: firstly, the popular media, particularly the book and film of "The Exorcist" and the work of a renegade Catholic priest, the late Malachi Martin, in the early 1970s; and secondly, the development of a "therapeutic culture" of self-fulfilment and self-help. As a result, the deliverance practices of Pentecostalism have come to feature across the board in conservative Protestantism and the previously rarely-used rite of Roman Catholic exorcism has become increasingly accessible.

The author travels across America, meeting exorcists and their patients and attending dozens of sessions. There are Catholic traditionalists, anxious to reassert the mystical authority of the priesthood after Vatican II; members of the Charismatic wings of several of the major American denominations; and independent Pentecostals and Fundamentalists. In many places (once prompted by Cuneo, it has to be noted), "The Exorcist" and Malachi Martin's book "Hostage to the Devil" are cited by informants as inspirations for their "countersecular worldview" in which human motivations can very easily be ascribed to demonic influence.

Cuneo's book is an excellent resource for tracing the way different parts of the movement have influenced each other. Through Francis MacNutt, the ideas of Derek Prince and Don Basham entered the Catholic Charismatic movement; fears of "Satanic conspiracy" brought deliverance ideas into Evangelicalism. However, there are some curious omissions. While the origins of Pentecostalism are covered, there is no mention of the "Later Rain" Movement, for example. Also, apart from a couple of nods to the UK and Rome, there is not much sense of an international movement. Part of the problem here is Cuneo's emphasis on how the movement has taken hold of "white, middle-class" American Christians. He almost completely ignores African-American Christianity and the possible influence of non-Western Pentecostalism in the USA (although he does mention a Nigerian Catholic exorcist in passing). Further, although he nods to the New Age movement with references to Scott Peck and Ed and Lorraine Warren (Two Roman Catholic "psychic investigators" who inspired "The Amityville Horror"), more could be said about exorcism among non-Christian or para-Christian minority groups in the USA.

Cuneo's linking of exorcism to popular culture is a useful development, although his bold claim that the media "manipulate" religious belief blithely ignores several decades of media studies theory. He claims, in a footnote, that several psychologists have done work which confirms his idea, but the only reference he gives is to an article in the "Seattle Times". Also, more could be made about the glaring gender issue in his study; only in passing does he mention the predominance of women seeking deliverance in certain sectors of the movement.

The style of book is engaging, although the author veers between scholarship and journalism. This betrays his background as a lecturer at Fordham, a Roman Catholic institution. When discussing Roman Catholic exorcism, he is appropriately sombre and sympathetic; but when he explores exorcism in the "Word of Faith" movement of the "Prosperity Gospel" his mockery verges on the Menckenesque.

"American Exorcism" is certainly more nuanced than Roland Howard's "Charismania", a British polemic on the subject, although the paradigm within which the contemporary Charismatic movement works has been discussed in more theoretical depth in another semi-journalistic work, Ian Cotton's "The Hallelujah Revolution". Cuneo's insights and investigative work are, however, very valuable.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fairly written , fairly argued, April 1, 2002

By 

Peter Ingemi (Worcester County, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty (Hardcover)

For a man who is today (April 1st 2002) at a meeting of American Atheists in Boston Michael Cuneo gives a very fair hearing and an even fairer look at exorcism in America.

Looking at both the patholigy, its relationshiop to cultural motifs (to which he points squairely at The Exorcist) and actual practicioners of the practice from many faiths. Cuneo paints a picture of both sincerity and theatre, psycology and paranormal.

He reserves judgement while examining what is done and said, and has no qualms about attending events himself.

In my opinion he shows respect for the subjects of his book and doesn't hesitate to give them a platform while turning a critical eye on the process.

A fairer book from an outside observer you will not find. Well done.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic book., October 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty (Hardcover)

Wonderfully written, unbelievably researched, the book is a sheer joy. The case studies will amuse you, will horrify you, will leave you wanting more. What can I say, it's the best book I've read this year.