Customer Reviews

The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History

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An amazing, fascinating, intellectually stimulating book on a subject too often the province of cranks, fanatics, or frauds--the Devil himself. Russell, a California history professor, has written several volumes on Lucifer, and this is the most far-ranging. An in-depth study that traces the history of the Devil from his shadowy origins in the desert wastes of the Middle East and of course even further back, in Africa; follows him through Judaism and early Christianity to the Middle Ages, up through the Reformation and Age of Enlightenment, right through to the Holocaust and the post-modern world. Russell explores theology, folklore, literature, and history to piece together this ultimate symbol of evil. From early church writers such as Origen and Tertullian to Milton and Dante, to Baudelaire, de Sade, Dostoevski and Flannery O'Connor, Russell looks at the ways in which the Devil has been personified for different ages. Highly readable, packed with accurate and well-researched information, this should appeal to anyone with an interest in comparative religions, mythology, or history. This really is perhaps the definitive book on the figure of the Devil, although I would also recommend Paul Carus' "The Devil and the Idea of Evil," Alice Turner's "The History of Hell" and Homer Smith's "Man and His Gods."

Jeffrey B. Russell's "Prince of Darkness" is an excellent introduction to the complex history and mythology surrounding one of the most famous entities to grace the stage of religion and history, a being known by many names: Beelzebub, the Archfiend, Old Scratch, Lucifer, and Satan. It serves essentially as an overview of his series of four books on the Devil at each stage of history from ancient to modern times.

Russell traces the Satan myth from its earliest primitive conceptual origins in Summerian and Babylonian myth and its influence on ancient Judaism and Zoroastrianism. He shows that there are really only four religions throughout all of history that have had a concept of a singular entity that is the total personification of pure and radical evil, these being anicent Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam. Each has its own rich and complex history and diabology, but it has been Christianity that has had the most complex and influential.

The book then continues with an analysis of the miriad of influences within Christianity on the evolving concept, role, and image of the Devil, from the early Christian tradtions as developed by Origen, Justin Martyr, St Anthony, and St. Augustine to the various Christian heretical sects, such as the Gnostics, Cathars, and Waldensians. It then traces the rise of the Devil to prominence in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and his role in the rise of the witchcraze of the 16th and 17th centuries. At this time, there was such an obsession with the concept of Satan and his minions that a complex demonology grew up around him, created by theologians, clerics, jurists, and crackpots. As time passed, the fearful influence of the Devil waned as belief in spirits and demons passed into the realm of superstition and Satan was reduced to little more than an advertising ploy and horror movie cliche. As it was with Christianity, so it is in the secular world as well: Satan Sells.

Russell's introduction gives an excellent overview to a fascinating and complex subject and hopefully will lead to an even more in-depth investigation of the most feared being in history, that Father of Lies and Seducer of All the World called the Devil and Satan.

I just finished reading this book. Overall, I recommend it, although I think the author makes a much better historian than philosopher. Fortunately, he spends most of the book being a historian. The book covers the beginnings of a Devil concept in Zoroastrianism up to modern beliefs about the Devil. Naturally, there are surveys of Milton, Dante, and Faustian motifs. The author admits that his book is Christian-centric, which I can accept for the historical parts of the book. But I think he took a wrong turn in the last few, more philosophical, chapters where he dismisses modern materialism and skepticism of the existence of Satan.

After four exhaustive books chronicling the history of the Devil and the concept of evil from antiquity to the present day apparently Jeffrey Burton Russell just hadn't gotten enough and had to go back to the well one more time and provide a single volume overview of his four previous book about the Devil. Ahh...... how telling. I guess the old adage is true concerning over fascination with the "Prince of Darkness." Dr. Russell, it's time to move on before it's too late.

'The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History' is a good read, particularily if you don't want to wade your way through the other four books. Consider this a little "Condensed Evil" to go!

Russell is well informed, articulate and dare I say, aesthetic author. "The Prince of Darkness" which might be considered the hallmark of all Russell's work compiled, is immaculately researched and expertly woven. Unlike most non-fiction authors, Russell won't patronize you with watered-down asides or well-meaning bullet-points intended to assist you along the way. Instead, he engages you directly and persuasively with his fact-finding narrative and thought-provoking inquiry. Style aside, the content of "Prince" will have you spellbound from start to finish. It touches on the historical fictions surrounding Satan but doesn't settle for myths alone. Readers will be happy to know that Russell delves deeper into the philosophy and psychology surrounding the archetypes of the 'Dark Prince' the people who believe in them and on into the realms of ontological questions like good and evil. My only beef with the book -Russell himself- is that there is no conclusion to his research. It's well-written, fascinating but ultimately leaves you feeling teased rather than sated. Perhaps, like a true professor, he wants to deliver the facts and leave you to your own conclusions, but this proves frustrating. With so much knowledge and insight on a subject long stigmatized one would hope that Russell might have something to say about evil, human psychology or the archetype itself. In the end this is an informative read and a fun flip, but little else.

This book is a waste of money. The author is obviously christian, and spends most of the book talking more about the basis of christian philosophy than he does talking about the main subject of the book. When he does talk about the devil, it's always in a negative and juvenile manner. Examples are "stupid", "idiotic", and "blind to god's love". This viewpoint is made painfully clear whenever the author makes his own observations on Satan and the demons. The chapter on Milton's 'Paradise Lost' is nothing but quotes from that work followed by the author's highly bigoted viewpoint on each passage. Whenever he talks about god or christ, however, there's nothing but praise and repeats of christian values of love and loyalty. The effect is of a child hiding behind jesus while giving Satan the finger. A full third of the book is devoted to various christian philosophers trying to reconcile the existence of evil being allowed by their all perfect, all loving god. I began to feel as though I was reading the same paragraphs over and over - only the changing of the page numbers helped convince me otherwise. I had hoped for some level of professional detatchment from the subject matter, but the author is far too immersed in his personal beliefs to do so. While he did cover the subject matter from a historical perspective in detail, the field of study was a very narrow one. The witch trials, for example, were glossed over, with no details of the horrible tortures commited in the name of an all loving god. This is a clearly one-sided work, and not worth the paper it's printed on.