Hell: The History of the Idea and Its Earthly Manifestations

«Hell» will take you through three millennia of eternal torment — from the Old Testament Sheol and Gehenna to the latest versions of hell on Earth.
You will cross the river Acheron in the same boat as the hero Aeneas and step onto the shores of Hades; meet the devil in the form of a giant thousand-handed beast, as imagined by a monk living in the 12th century; walk through the nine circles of Dante's Inferno, where gluttons, liars, heretics, murderers, and hypocrites endure eternal torment for their sins; witness the debates that stirred Victorian England when scientific findings led people to doubt the idea of posthumous punishment.
A unique anthology of the most important texts about Hell, compiled by American medievalist and historian of religion, Professor Scott Bruce of Fordham University, demonstrates how the idea of posthumous retribution for earthly sins has influenced — and continues to influence — the minds of people.