Evil

The poor health of America

This week, the nation focused on the deaths of two men in New York City. In one case, a mentally stable man confronted a mentally unstable man on the F train. Out of an intentional drive to protect the lives of those around him, the stable man — a twenty-five-year-old Marine from Long Island — put the unstable man in a chokehold that resulted, directly or indirectly, in his death. In the other case, a mentally unstable man targeted a mentally stable man as a consequence of his job leading one of the largest health insurance companies — shooting him in the back as he walked down the street.

health

Devil in the detail

When I was offered the chance to review two new books about the Devil, I thought, “what fun!” I wouldn’t describe myself as a particularly diabolical person, but as someone whose deep love of Paradise Lost has made me, as good old William Blake didn’t quite put it, “of the devil’s party while very much knowing it,” I rubbed my hands together in glee at the prospect of getting down and dirty with Old Nick. Not, you understand, that my purely literary interest can begin to compare to the “Satanic Panic” outbreak that gripped the imaginations of middle America in the late 1980s and 1990s. “Satanic cults! Every hour, every day, their ranks are growing!

devil