The Divine Supermarket: Travels In Search Of The Soul Of America (tauris Parke Paperbacks)

'A perfect guide and crazy concept...It's a rocking good read and something of a pocket guide to hell.' - Time Out Travelling in a battered camping van, Malise Ruthven set out across America in search of the manifestations - often bizarre and sometimes terrifying - of its religious spirit. The journey took him from the dark woods of Puritan New England to neo-Nazi cults in the Rockies; from Mormons and Snake-handlers to fundamentalist groups who challenge the teaching of evolution; from Channellers in California to the sexual and financial scandals surrounding millionaire TV preachers. The Divine Supermarket is his zesty and brilliantly-observed account of the journey, offering illuminating and humorous insights into the quirky soul of modern America. This is an exploration of the influence of far-right preachers on the Reagan administration. In its analysis of the melting-pot of religious cults in America, the book covers high-mindedness and moral angst, sexual humbuggery and corruption. As the world's oldest secular state, America has proved uniquely adept at hatching new creeds and producing variations on more familiar themes from Latter-Day Saints to snake-handlers. Its citizens enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world and the country is undergoing a major religious revival. Fundamentalist groups in the South challenge the teaching of evolution in schools, television preachers such as Jerry Falwell are undermining the liberal reforms of postwar years, and cults such as the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh flourish. Part travel book, part history, part cultural analysis, this book follows Malise Ruthven from Puritan New England to the Reaganite right wing areas of the sun belt and middle America in what is intended to be a study of the soul of modern America. Malise Ruthven is also author of "Islam in the Modern World". Machine generated contents note: pt. One Road to Zion -- -- I. Pilgrim Trail -- -- II. Prophets, Shakers and Martyrs -- -- III. Golden Plates -- -- IV. Holy Family -- -- V. Camp of Israel -- -- VI. Unease in Zion -- -- pt. Two Rim of the World -- -- VII. Purity and Danger -- -- VIII. Love is God -- -- IX. Cosmic Biz -- -- pt. Three People of the Book -- -- X. Genesis -- -- XI. Among Believers -- -- XII. Black Gospel -- -- XIII. Holy Wars -- -- XIV. Power of Silence. Travelling in a battered camping van, Malise Ruthven set out across America in search of the manifestations - often bizarre and sometimes terrifying - of its religious spirit. This book is his zesty and brilliantly-observed account of the journey, offering illuminating and humorous insights into the quirky soul of modern America. Travelling in a battered camping van, Malise Ruthven set out across America in search of the manifestations - often bizarre and sometimes terrifying - of its religious spirit. This is his quirky and brilliantly-observed account of the journey, offering illuminating and humorous insights into the quirky soul of modern America.