The Hellfire Clubs
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Sex, Satanism and Secret Societies
Evelyn Lord
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Format: PaperPrice: $25.00
The first authoritative account of the Hell-Fire Clubs, who joined them, and which notorious legends about them are true
The Hell-Fire Clubs scandalized eighteenth-century English society. Rumors 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 Hell-Fire 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.
Hell-Fire Clubs operated under a variety of titles, but all attracted similar members—mainly upper-class men with abundant leisure and the desire to shock society. The 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 countermovement that eventually suppressed them. Uncovering the facts behind the Hell-Fire legends, this book also opens a window on the rich contradictions of the Enlightenment period.
'This is a lively survey of a topic that has attracted much attention, and some sensational exaggerations; Lord adopts a sensible and straight-forward approach to stripping away some of the mythology of these clubs, and examining the evidence, which is often fascinating enough; her work will be accessible to general readers as well as to those studying the social history of the period.' - Dr David Money, Cambridge University
"This looks like the last word on the mystery of the Hellfire Clubs, those manifestations of irrational alcoholic and sexual exuberance which reached their peak in the eighteenth century. By a careful sifting of all the evidence Lord has cracked the code." - Fergus Linnane, author of The Lives of the English Rakes
"This sparkling account of the seamy side of the British aristocracy in the eighteenth century both entertains and informs." - Tim Blanning, author of The Pursuit of Glory
‘Evelyn Lord supplies a proper context for 18th-century aristo shenanigans.’ — Vera Rule, The Guardian, 27th March 2010
Publication Date: April 6, 2010
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