God's Lunatics: Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man's Eternal Search for the Divine [Paperback]

Michael Largo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2010

An eyebrow-raising exposÉ of the strange and shocking side of history's religions, cults, and spiritual movements

What is the meaning of life? Since the dawn of civilization, humankind has sought to answer the mysteries of existence. Unfortunately this restless search for the divine has, all too often, driven seekers in regrettable directions—toward the comically ridiculous and irrational but also the frighteningly horrific and maniacal.

Arm yourself with God's Lunatics before your next encounter with those who have been blinded by the light. Award-winning author Michael Largo, "the Capote of kaput" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), chronicles history's vast and colorful cast of true believers—from the hidden side of the Bible's eccentric characters to today's street-corner doomsayers, and from extraterrestrial communicators, levitating hermits, and flagellating ascetics to self-serving preachers of overindulgence who believed money, sex, and drugs were the keys to the portal to divine understanding. In addition to the firewalkers, serpent handlers, cultists, terrorists, and alleged time travelers, God's Lunatics also reveals the dubious foundations of the world's major faiths and the many religious customs and laws that continue to influence governments and society, whether you are a believer or not.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In a cleverly subtle style, Largo reveals the puzzling beliefs and excesses of religions . . . measured and nuanced . . . his smartly written A-Z capsule entries allow readers to come to their own conclusions.” (Los Angeles Times )

“Such a great read. . . . What’s here is sometimes scarier than even the most frightening horror film. . . . Will entertain without offending.” (Horror-Web.com )

“God’s Lunatics takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of faith’s more ridiculous manifestations. The work presents a Victorian freak show of cult leaders, mystics, and crusaders from throughout history.” (San Francisco Bay Guardian )

“An enlightening riot, and one that will steer you away from religion quicker than a pervert priest.” (Miami SunPost )

“This book is fabulous. I cannot recommend it enough: Michael Largo’s encyclopedia of religious weirdness through the centuries. I loved it.” (ExtraordinaryIntelligence.com )

“One man has made it his mission to document and collect stories of religious fanatics, freaks, believers of all sorts just like this woman. That man, Michael Largo, regales the reader with tales of religion gone awry in God’s Lunatics.” (The Daily Beast )

“An A to Z of the fantastic, scandalous and downright bizarre found within the history of religion. While a perfect book for quick-tempo, episodic reading, I actually found myself sucked into reading it for a stretch of some hours.” (Lansing State Journal )

About the Author

Michael Largo is the author of Genius and Heroin, The Portable Obituary, the Bram Stoker Award-winning Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die, and three novels. He lives in the United States.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; 1 edition (June 22, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061732842
• ISBN-13: 978-0061732843
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #666,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been collecting statistics and information on the American way of dying for over a decade. This is my first nonfiction; I previously published three novels. HarperCollins did such a superb job designing Final Exits and spared no expense by including over 400 pictures and historical artworks that I discovered in archives from around the world. I hope it is as fasinating to the reader as it was for me to write. I gathered the information from over fifty governments agecies, archives, insurance documents,hospital and court records that cannot be found by the googler eager to verify or debunk. I've included a 60 page appendix/bibliography with links, articles and books that will help those interested in the subject find out even more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Something for Everyone, October 21, 2010

By 

E. Kevin - See all my reviews

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This review is from: God's Lunatics: Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man's Eternal Search for the Divine (Paperback)

At the used book price, it's a buy. There is some kind of factoid, for every persuasion, on at least every other page. I used this book for bathroom reading since the blurbs are mostly short and the unglazed paper quality is high. The book's presentation of bits and bytes is somewhat chaotic to the text book crowd, but the unevenness keeps the dedicated reader on track and alert. I'm guessing, based on my own knowledge of the various subject matters, that most of the book's "errors" are minor and inconsequential in the long run. One example is that Jehovah's Witnesses frown on the use of aluminum cookware. Well they don't, but there was an article in one of their frequent tracts (Awake) that did call attention to the fact that researchers some time ago thought that there might be a link between cooking in aluminum pots and Alzheimer's Disease. This research theory has long been discarded by the CDC and others. I'm a practicing Roman Catholic and I was not even slightly offended by the crazy catholic saints old-time stunts. Mental health was not understood in the olden days, and any religious activity of the sort described in the book would, today, wind the active participant up in a three day mental assessment facility at the least; probably a little AC/DC and a pail of lithium to boot. The book is a lot of off beat history, and "Oh yea, I remember that"s, and is recommended by me as short, in interval, and sweet reading materiel.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive and Fascinating Read, July 25, 2010

By 

W. Fleming (MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God's Lunatics: Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man's Eternal Search for the Divine (Paperback)

Mr. Largo's "God's Lunatics.." is a fantastic A to Z insight of religious practices, odd beliefs, and sometimes hilarious rituals of those who believe in some kind of supreme being. From the completely outrageous to the slick self-proclaimed prophets, Mr. Largo sheds light on just how far people will go for what they believe in. I read through the book once and am ready to give it another go!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, poorly executed., September 29, 2010

By 

Joseph Fausnight (Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: God's Lunatics: Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man's Eternal Search for the Divine (Paperback)

Michael Largo's book, God's Lunatics, came well recommended by the American Freethought podcast, and sounded like an entertaining read. The basic concept of the book is an alphabetic compilation, like an encyclopedia or anthology, of religious intentions gone wrong, as told in entertaining little summaries.

I was looking forward to reading this book. However, within the first few pages, and throughout the book, I encountered numerous errors, both typographical and in the underlying research, that renders the stories unreliable. I am one who likes to tell anecdotes from the books I read, and there are many interesting stories and historical notes in the book, but if the author cannot get basic facts straight, I don't want to be passing on misinformation. After reading about fifty pages and briefly thumbing through the rest, I put the book aside.

My advice for Mr. Largo is to try again, but get a good editor and a research assistant for the next edition. It has potential.

(By the author of: Going Godless: Rediscovering Spirituality in a Material World )