Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth [Paperback]

Bob Larson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1989

In Satanism, Bob Larson examines the pervasive influence of Satanic activity of youth. More than a simple overview of the dangers, this book provides practical ways to recognize and combat Satanism, Ghoulish games, horror films, black metal music, drugs--Larson gives a clear understanding of the evil surrounding us.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 1St Edition edition (October 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0840730349
• ISBN-13: 978-0840730343
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bob has written 30 books, translated into more than a dozen languages. His books include four best-selling novels: "Dead Air," "Abaddon," "The Senator's Agenda," and "Shock Talk." His 500-page handbook, "Larson's Book of Spiritual Warfare," is an encyclopedic reference about demons, the devil, and deliverance and represents a lifetime of research and experience. His 500-page classic work "Larson's Book of Cults" is a standard reference encyclopedia at many colleges and seminaries. His latest book is "Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality." Other books include "Straight Answers on the New Age"; "Satanism: the Seduction of America's Youth"; "In the Name of Satan"; "UFOs and the Alien Agenda"; and "Extreme Evil: Kids Killing Kids."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Bathroom Reading!, December 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth (Paperback)

Forget using this book as a reference or guide--it's too ridiculous for that. I bought this book for 85 cents at a thrift store and have gotten tenfold value out of it just for the laughter it has wrought out of me. If you need a gag gift for someone with even a remote interest/knowledge of the occult, this is it. You need a gift for that kid you know who wears the white face makeup and thick black eyeliner (and I'm not talking about mimes)? You know, the kid who is always listening to your old Beatles records backwards straining to hear "Paul is dead"? Well light a black candle and share the joy of reading by giving that kid this book. It's hilarious.

36 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good intentions and a whole lot of paranoid misinformation, March 19, 2002

By 

Amazonbombshell (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth (Paperback)

I was raised Christian. A good many of my friends and all of my family members practice that religion, and they are all good people I am proud to know.

I think Bob Larson is a good man, too. His intention in SATANISM is to protect American youth and American morals, but his view is far too narrow. It is obvious that Mr. Larson knows very little about the institutions and symbols he denounces as "Satanic." The peace sign? Major stretch of the imagination. Dungeons and Dragons? Give me a break! Wicca? Please! (Mr. Larson very obviously has never met a true Wiccan, or he would never say that they anything but intelligent, peace-loving, NORMAL human beings who seek to know the Divine just as Christians do.)

I do not recommend burning this book, ripping it up, or using it as toilet paper, as so many readers before me have suggested. It is Mr. Larson's right, as it is mine, to espouse and to publish his own opinions. However, I also do not recommend that you read this book if you are looking for serious information on Satanism. There are other, less paranoid, better researched versions out there. This book is more concerned with impressing a strict and intolerant morality on the American public than it is in truly informing us of anything solidly based on more than a few distraught callers on the author's radio show.

So thank you, Mr. Larson, for caring about the state of morality in America. But really, Bob, you need to educate yourself about the things you believe to be "evil" from more than just the conservative Christian perspective. Well intentioned they may be, but books like this can do a great deal of damage to the very CHRISTIAN virtues (shared by many other religions, in case you forgot to check that out, too) of love and tolerance. You should know that your book made me weep, and it was not for the degenerate state of American youth culture, but for the pettiness and fear your words can only perpetuate.

16 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unresearched Fear-mongering Sensationalism, July 19, 2002

By 

Matthew S. Schweitzer "zohoe" (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth (Paperback)

Bob Larson's book "Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth" is really a poor piece of journalism. It is a product of the Satanic Panic of the 80s and early 90s when a number of fundamentalist groups were convinced that there were wide-spread underground Satanic cults attempting to recruit millions of children for Lucifer through the use of heavy metal music and fantasy role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Today, most people see this as the farce that it is. The fact that anyone would take what Larson describes in this book seriously is frightening. Suffice it to say that while this book is entertaining for it's sensationalist and misguided views, I think that it also has the power to seriously delude the unsavvy reader into beliving that simply because someone listens to Metallica, wears black clothing, or plays D&D that they are headed down the Left Hand Path to evil.

This book, and many others like it, are dangerous in that they are propagandist works that promote misinformation about simple adolescent rebelliousness and disparage other belief systems while pandering to people's fears. For example, Larson's guide to "Satanic" symbols is just foolish. Among other things, it continues the myth that the pentagram and the Egyptian Ahnk are Satanic symbols, which they are not. It also promotes an unecessary fear of anything considered New Age or connected to the Occult, which basically continues to equate anything non-Christian with the Devil... This book is un-intenionally entertaining, but not to be taken seriously in the least. If I had children I would be more worried about them stealing beer and bashing mailboxes than selling their souls to Satan.