Customer Reviews

Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

In the 1600s it was the Puritans looking for witches in town hall, in the 1950s it was McCarthy looking for communists under the bed, and in the 1980s it was Bob Larson looking for imaginary Satanic Cults, well, everywhere. Let me put it this way: Larson lists a page of "Satanic" symbols in his book, which include (among others), the Egyptian ankh, logos of rock bands, and the peace symbol. You can imagine what the other 200+ pages and the rest of his books are like. His mind is obessed with this "Satan" character, so naturally he sees it everywhere, and he wants to share his paranoia with the rest of the world. Please don't buy this book, even for laughs, because this liar doesn't deserve a cent. If you're looking for an actual researched book on the myths and facts of the Satanic Panic, try the book by Robert D. Hicks.

The greatest danger presented by this book is that someone might actually take it seriously. I first came across it while working in a library in high school, and I can't believe this worthless piece of "research" is even still in print.

Let's see, now . . . according to Mr. Larson, folks like me, who were into role-playing games, heavy metal music, fantastic literature, and black candles (for heaven's sake) as teenagers are in severe danger of losing our souls. Huh. Funny, I never noticed mine was missing! As is usual in these kinds of books, the author completely ignores the real problems and focuses on the symptoms. Larson makes the same error as groups such as Back in Control and the PMRC did in the 80s; assuming that kids who play D&D (these days, it's Vampire: the Masquerade being demonized) or listen to Metallica (Marilyn Manson, lately) must be emotionally disturbed because they like these things. Actually, most of my friends in high school were astonishingly well-adjusted; those who weren't would have had the same problems if they enjoyed playing Monopoly and listening to Debbie Gibson.

If you enjoy being amused by the trivialities the human mind is capable of latching onto, you'll probably get a laugh out of this book. Otherwise, don't waste your time. The only hard-core Satanist I ever met was in his 30s.

This is just yet another piece of dreck designed to cash in on the mid-80s "Satanic Panic", and I question Larson's motives, considering the facts uncovered by Cornerstone magazine in their expose of him:

- Much of the story in Larson's novel "Dead Air" was actually done by ex-Bob Larson Ministries staffer Lori Boespflug, yet it's presented solely as Larson's own
- Despite a claim to have "saved thousands", a scheduled visit to Larson's Denver offices by Cornerstone's Mike Hertenstein and Jon Trott (who also wrote an expose on Christian comedian and alleged ex-Satanic high priest Mike Warnke that later served as the focus of an excellent book, "Selling Satan") was cancelled by Larson on the flimsy grounds that he feared Cornerstone "would make their names public and expose them to ridicule"
- Larson never said how much $$$ he took in, and actually took a show caller who attempted to quote the actual figure off the air, claiming he was "about to spread lies"

And if you don't believe me, consider that Anton LaVey's Church of Satan's membership consists of a mere 5,000-6,000 (so much for the alleged "global Satanic network"), LaVey himself denounced heavy metal as "just noise", and no major investigations into alleged "cult crimes" ever took place, despite the shocking statistics quoted by Larson, Warnke, and others. Is it any wonder why the notion of ritualistic abuse has been largely dismissed, except among a select handful who either continue to believe these wild tales or use them to continue defrauding the faithful?

The author has gone to a lot of trouble to explain the seriousness of Satanism's lure for young people on today's society. But instead of rooting out the evil in youth - why not focus more on the good inherent in their young souls? And by the way, an upright pentagram is the symbol of Wicca - a completely different religion that doesn't even believe in Satan! Do more homework next time, thanks!

I have had a hard time not to think that Bob is not just a Satanist posing as a christian writing all this stuff and wiggleing with joy as the fundamentalists consume it. (hey if I was rich and had nothing better to do I might do the same)He never questions the "testimonies" of the either joking or disturbed teenagers who annonamously call his show. He tries, rather patheticly, to appeal to a secular audience with the symbols page which contains among others, the anarchy symbol, peace symbol and a representation of the baphomet that is an inverted pentagram with two dots for eyes.
"Im a satanist. I hate your god. I listen to black metal music..." so begins yet another chapter, this one about the always "evil" metal genere.
this book is a bad choice if your looking for actual information, but a good one to add to your satanic panic collection, which must include also "satans underground" or "Michelle remembers". I have wasted enough of my time writing this, ugg.. tired.. my point is if you are a Satanist you may, emphisis on may, want to get this book to entertain you after those long days at work.

I only gave him that extra star because he actually did *some* research. That certainly doesn't mean he isn't a bias conspiracy theorist, though. I noticed he loved to harp all over those interviews with kids who talk about killing and wanting sacrifice for Satan. Some of the info he provided was actually factual, but it was still very much hyped up. It seems he really only put emphasis on the unstable wackjob teenage extremists.
One thing I couldn't help but scoff at - why the hell did this guy keep refering to bands like Slayer, Metallica, and Megadeth as "black metal"? They are nothing of the sort. If any of you guys (and girls) who swallow every word this windbag says as truth, forget the little league of the "Satanic metal movement" and look into some real black metal bands, such as Mayhem or Emperor, to see what the scene really incorporates.

What a mess. Basically a Jack Chick mini-comic stretched to book length, this nonsense is full of all of the standard 80's urban legends about all the children who were killed by rock music and D&D. It would be funny if there weren't gullible people out there who would take this stuff seriously. If you're looking for a useful book on the occult, try Gordon Melton. If you've got a short leg on your kitchen table, go with Larson :)