- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown & Company; First Printing edition (5 July 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0446578851
- ISBN-13: 978-0446578851
- Product Dimensions: 15.9 x 1.9 x 23.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 235,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
John Paul II was the first pope since the early 1600s to view the evil and his minions not only as formidable foes, but as tangible forces which the Catholic church must battle on a daily basis. The priest charged with spearheading this mission is Father Gabriele Amorth and his Office of Exorcism. Revitalising a long-dormant practice, Father Amorth has re-established exorcism as a common rite in the church with a series of seminars and training sessions during which priests from all over the world learn how to fight Satan here on Earth. Tracy Wilkinson gained access to the Vatican's highest authorities,allowing her to cover this story from every angle - both beneficiaries and victims of exorcism, sceptical scientists, devout believers and even those priests within the church who question the revival of the practice.
About the Author
Tracy Wilkinson is the Rome bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times and she is the winner of the Polk Award for Foreign Reporting for her work in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Not as good as it could have been. I'd mark her report card 'Must try harder'. It reads like a slightly expanded magazine article; it could have been a lot more. There were three 'patients' and four exorcists covered, only a couple of which featured throughout. Not enough really. There were one or two sceptics quoted, a couple of scientific types, but all-in-all it was a bit of a disappointment. Given the subject matter, there's a lot more fantastic stories to pursue and cover. This reads like a journalist having nothing else to do on a Sunday afternoon but interview a couple of priests, a policeman, a psychologist, and three women.
The accounts of the exorcisms were quite dry, and almost boring in recital. The conversations with the priests were incomplete, where comments such as "You can't see what I've seen and not believe the Devil is an actual living person" were just left like that. No further elaboration or explanation. It leaves you feeling that there are much more interesting and elaborate tales out there, but that she just hasn't bothered to pursue them.
She made no real decision at the end, and given the paucity of evidence she appears to have garnered, you can't make any decision at all on any of the stories based purely on the information provided. So you're left with your own conclusions, which would be exactly the same ones that you started the book with.
It is an interesting subject, so not a complete waste of time, but it leaves you wanting far more in depth analysis, stories, and evidence for and against.
The accounts of the exorcisms were quite dry, and almost boring in recital. The conversations with the priests were incomplete, where comments such as "You can't see what I've seen and not believe the Devil is an actual living person" were just left like that. No further elaboration or explanation. It leaves you feeling that there are much more interesting and elaborate tales out there, but that she just hasn't bothered to pursue them.
She made no real decision at the end, and given the paucity of evidence she appears to have garnered, you can't make any decision at all on any of the stories based purely on the information provided. So you're left with your own conclusions, which would be exactly the same ones that you started the book with.
It is an interesting subject, so not a complete waste of time, but it leaves you wanting far more in depth analysis, stories, and evidence for and against.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I remember a long time ago borrowing a book from local library in Edinburgh about Exorcism. I like reading about different religious beliefs, studies etc and found this book on here. It is difficult to find a book thats not "hyped" up and this is a book thats written unbiased and talks about genuine priests who are exorcists. The book looks into how the Catholic church deals with exoricsms and how they deal with people who are actually mentally ill -not possessed. One of the best books I have read. However it can be quite heavy to read at times and have had to put it down twice . Fascinating and brilliant. In today's society where so many people are "lost" in the world where the seven sins are thriving this does make me ,personally, think that the Catholic church make more sense than most. I am of no religion so this is not a biased view either but the more I read ..the more I believe.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
50 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Trivialization and Generalization of a Potentially Exciting Topic
23 Jun 2007
Format:Hardcover
The first problem with the book is the title. Wilkinson spends more than one chapter discussing mass exorcisms and healing ceremonies by the excommunicated archbishop,Milingo. Secondly, because the author starts wih a wide examination of the topic in general, the reader is fed many general stories without the personal experience and firsthand account fond in other exorcism stories. The book doesn't amaze, astonish or scare which makes is somewhat mundane and a longer read than neccessary. The examples used stretch from private encounters, to part-time spiritual direcion to mass liturgical gatherings way beyond any Catholic Rite.
Unfortunately, it is clear Wilkinson has no personal beliefs or faith in the powers of evil that emminate from the text. Exorcisms are reduced mostly to hyterical, self induced phenomena by primarily over-emotional Catholics who are mostly Italian.
If you are looking for a dramatic Catholic account of firsthand experince, search for Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil". If you like the academic, scientific approach from an agnostic-check out Dr. Scott Peck's book on evil. The Wilinkson book misses the mark fom both standpoints.
Unfortunately, it is clear Wilkinson has no personal beliefs or faith in the powers of evil that emminate from the text. Exorcisms are reduced mostly to hyterical, self induced phenomena by primarily over-emotional Catholics who are mostly Italian.
If you are looking for a dramatic Catholic account of firsthand experince, search for Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil". If you like the academic, scientific approach from an agnostic-check out Dr. Scott Peck's book on evil. The Wilinkson book misses the mark fom both standpoints.
77 of 89 people found the following review helpful
Catholic Bashing in Sheeps Clothing
1 Mar 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Catholics should beware. This is not the informative neutral book it claims to be. The pages are full of barely concealed contempt for Holy Mother Church and her "Arcane" and "mid-evil" rituals. It was a big disappointed. The one thing it has going for it is that is it is a short book that only takes a couple hours to read. Certainly not worth the money they are charging for it. The author is not even much of a wordsmith often repeating herself and attributing quotes to people after already assigning them to someone else. Altogether bad form.
28 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Peculiar Book by an uninformed author
29 Mar 2007
Format:Hardcover
Though the author was present at several exorcisms in the Catholic Church (which I find very odd, as outsiders [non-participants] are not allowed to witness exorcisms in the Catholic church), I found her analysis of the situations rather uninformed about the ritual and the reasons such rituals are (thankfully rare) performed. Instead of getting to the crux of the matter, she interviewed and observed exorcisms done by what I would consider a lunatic fringe of priests and other prelates who seem to see demons everywhere. Calling the book Vatican Exorcists is very misleading. The priests involved do not follow the Vatican's directives regarding proper discernment of the need to exorcise, putting the church in an undeserved negative light. People reading this could believe that all priests do this and one could simply go to a rectory and merely ask to be exorcised, and it would be done. It doesn't work that way. The criteria for valid discernment is very clear and NONE of the priests involved in this book followed that. On a positive note, mental illness was discussed as a possible (IMO probable) reason the individuals discussed felt they needed exorcism. It is well written and easy to read, but the analysis of the subject in the last chapter is weak and flawed. I suspect the author is either a non or ex-Catholic as I felt a bit of contempt being held for the church as a whole in its maintaining this ritual as part of its ancient rites.
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