Full Product Details
Author: Elicka Peterson Sparks
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Imprint: Prometheus Books
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.70cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.535kg
ISBN: 9781633881501
ISBN 10: 1633881504
Pages: 322
Publication Date: 23 February 2016
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
Rarely does a book come along that startles like The Devil You Know does. Elicka Peterson Sparks confronts a touchy subject (religion) and analyzes its impact on criminal behavior and criminal justice in an honest and courageous fashion. This clearly and beautifully written book connects religion and crime through a number of social forces: politics, media, education, the economy, human rights, and the law (notably the US Supreme Court). No matter how surprising the conclusions, this book is recommended reading for all Americans. Bonnie Berry, PhD, director, Social Problems Research Group Why is the United States such a violent nation filled with so much crime? The startling answer proposed by criminologist Peterson Sparks is that it s due to the tremendous impact of the Bible and Christianity on the culture, institutions, and political life of the United States. She specifically indicts Christian theocratic nationalism for this, with its hateful, xenophobic, war-mongering, gun-toting, misogynistic, child-abusing, gay-bashing, get-tough-on-crime, right-wing nuts. This is the devil in disguise we already know, finally exposed for the evil it is. This book is a masterpiece! It should scare the hell out of you. John W. Loftus, author of Why I Became an Atheist and editor of Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails In The Devil You Know, Peterson Sparks bravely, and in delightful prose, asks a crucial question that many other scholars either feared asking or did not know to ask is religiosity in the United States related to criminality? The argument she poses cannot be ignored and has opened the door for vital future research. Hector A. Garcia, Psy.D., assistant professor, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and author of Alpha God
Author Information
Elicka Peterson Sparks is associate professor of criminology and director of the honors program in the Department of Government and Justice Studies at Appalachian State University. In addition to scholarly articles and contributions to textbooks in criminology, she is coauthor of the forthcoming book Behind Closed Doors- Love and Violence in the United States with Kit Gruelle. Her work has been cited in the New York Times and she has consulted on several documentaries, including Blind Spot- Murder by Women and HBO's Private Violence.
