The Hellfire Clubs

Sex, Satanism and Secret Societies

Evelyn Lord

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English

Yale University Press
15 March 2010

History; Social & cultural history; Social groups: clubs & societies

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.

By: Evelyn Lord
Imprint: Yale University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 146mm, Spine: 2mm
Weight: 499g
ISBN: 9780300164022
ISBN 10: 0300164025
Pages: 250
Publication Date: 15 March 2010
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Evelyn Lord has published widely on local history and is the author of The Knights Templar in Britain and The Stuart Secret Army. She lives in Cambridge, UK.

Reviews for The Hellfire Clubs: Sex, Satanism and Secret Societies

"""A fine excursion into one of the more unlikely contributions to culture. . . . Lord runs through the influences, varieties, and members of various Hell-Fire Clubs and their increasingly louche predecessors.""-Katherine A. Powers, Boston Sunday Globe -- Katherine A. Powers ""Boston Sunday Globe"" (01/11/2009)"