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`Evelyn Lord supplies a proper context for 18th-century aristo shenanigans.'
--Vera Rule, The Guardian, 27th March 2010
--Vera Rule, The Guardian, 27th March 2010
Product Description
The Hellfire Clubs scandalized eighteenth-century English society. Rumours of their orgies, recruitment of prostitutes, extensive libraries of erotica, extreme rituals, and initiation ceremonies circulated widely at the time, only to become more sensational as generations passed. This thoroughly researched book sets aside the exaggerated gossip about the secret Hellfire Clubs and brings to light the first accurate portrait of their membership (including John Wilkes, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Prince of Wales), beliefs, activities, and the reasons for their proliferation, first in the British Isles and later in America, possibly under the auspices of Benjamin Franklin. Hellfire Clubs operated under a variety of titles, but they all attracted a similar membership - mainly upper-class men with abundant leisure and the desire to shock society. This book explores the social and economic context in which the clubs emerged and flourished; their various phases, which first involved violence as an assertion of masculinity, then religious blasphemy, and later sexual indulgence; and, the counter movement that eventually suppressed them. Uncovering the facts behind the Hellfire legends, this book also opens a window on the rich contradictions of the Enlightenment period.
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3 reviews
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Not worth the read
10 May 2010
Format:Paperback
To be fair to Ms. Lord, she did a lot of research. Otherwise this book is a nightmare of poor organization, structure, and pacing. It's quite possibly one of the most boring history books I've ever read, which is impressive given both its short length and subject matter. I'd recommend reading another book on this subject - even if it does, as Ms. Lord believes, make the history more titillating than the reality - because it's likely to be a better use of a reader's time. As for me, following Ms. Lord's painting of these clubs as precursors to fraternities, I have no desire to read another book on this subject (and wish I hadn't read this one).
This book is a great example of having the research for a good book but not connecting it with the proper thesis and editing to make that transition.
This book is a great example of having the research for a good book but not connecting it with the proper thesis and editing to make that transition.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A sane, accurate and non-sensationalist history of the various Hell-Fire Clubs and their adherents
11 April 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is NOT a work of Fiction. It is not a speculative list of the perversions and vices attributed to the Hell-Fire Club, otherwise known as "Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe"
If the previous reviewers found this book to be too dry, non-sensationalist, and uninteresting to the current bottom-feeders trying to read "naughty history" then they need to pick up one of the several examples of "Yellow Journalist" on this subject that will appeal to their purile and scatalogical interests, or perhaps a collection of "Readers Letters To Hustler."
If however, the reader is interested in following an extensively researched recounting of the Hell-Fire Club's British and French precursors, and extensively covering both the Duke of Wharton's and Sir Francis Dashwood's subsequent Hell-Fire Clubs they will be well rewarded with as much real history as may likely be found on the actualy subject, and not the sensationalist blackening of characters attempted by the yellow journalists of the day, and to this very day: The Hellfire Club was a Gentleman's Club, like many others of its day. And to understand these clubs, one need look no further than City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London so see that the Hell-Fire Club was not nearly so far from the social norms and mores of 18th Century London, as many of its moralist detractors claimed at the time, and still claim today.
If the previous reviewers found this book to be too dry, non-sensationalist, and uninteresting to the current bottom-feeders trying to read "naughty history" then they need to pick up one of the several examples of "Yellow Journalist" on this subject that will appeal to their purile and scatalogical interests, or perhaps a collection of "Readers Letters To Hustler."
If however, the reader is interested in following an extensively researched recounting of the Hell-Fire Club's British and French precursors, and extensively covering both the Duke of Wharton's and Sir Francis Dashwood's subsequent Hell-Fire Clubs they will be well rewarded with as much real history as may likely be found on the actualy subject, and not the sensationalist blackening of characters attempted by the yellow journalists of the day, and to this very day: The Hellfire Club was a Gentleman's Club, like many others of its day. And to understand these clubs, one need look no further than City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London so see that the Hell-Fire Club was not nearly so far from the social norms and mores of 18th Century London, as many of its moralist detractors claimed at the time, and still claim today.
5 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Hellfire - Fascination Left Unquenched
11 Mar 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
While the subject was fascinating and the promised a lot in its title, I found it a bit of a slow read. With a subject like this you definitely want more story flow somehow and less academic. For me, this was a little too much like someone's thesis that promised sex and delivered a rather chaste good-nite kiss instead. Still worth reading, but now I want the fictionalized story to go with it.
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