The Divine Supermarket

'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.

Auteur

Malise Ruthven is a writer and historian of the Islamic world. He has been a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Services and has taught Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Aberdeen, the University of California and at Dartmouth. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, among other publications, and is the author of several books, including Fury for God, Fundamentalism and Encounters with Islam (I.B.Tauris, 2012).

Contenu

Acknowledgements
Foreword by Colin Thubron
Preface to this Edition
Prologue

Part One: The Road to Zion
I The Pilgrim Trail
II Prophets, Shakers and Martyrs
III The Golden Plates
IV The Holy Family
V The Camp of Israel
VI Unease in Zion

Part Two: The Rim of the World
VII Purity and Danger
VIII Love is God
IX Comic Biz

Part Three: People of the Book
X Genesis
XI Among Believers
XII The Black Gospel
XIII Holy Wars
XIV The Power of Silence

Epilogue
A Note on Sources