American Possessions
Fighting Demons in the Contemporary United States
Sean McCloud
Reviews and Awards
"In an understudied field, McCloud's analysis is a welcomed addition due to his concise argument, fair criticisms, and well-organized work on a topic that is often dismissed." -- J. Tyler Odle, Reading Religion
"Religious studies scholars will find much to appreciate in American Possessions American Possessions would make an excellent supplemental text for an upper division undergraduate/graduate religious studies or sociology of religion course. It is also an important scholarly contribution for examining lived religion in the American context."--Nova Religio
"A very important book for American religious studies."--Sacred Matters
"Sean McCloud has long been a gifted analyst of discursive formations of 'religion' in American culture, and American Possessions is his strongest, most ambitious work yet. He engages the important but misunderstood presence of Third Wave spiritual warfare literature, subtly and creatively describing its intersections with and dependence on Gothic tropes of haunting, neoliberal conceptions of agency, and the ethos of the therapeutic. Historically nuanced, theoretically probing, and stylistically distinctive, this book will be deservedly much-discussed." --Jason Bivins, author of Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism
"Like wars on drugs or terror, the spiritual warfare advanced by Third Wave Christians is ever-expanding and never-ending. In this excellent book, Sean McCloud places contemporary Christian struggles against demons in the context of a range of American habits from personal therapy to economic rationality. Concise, compelling, and animated by vivid stories and reverberating connections, American Possessions casts light on what is at stake in the war on demons in America." --David Chidester, author of Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture
"Sean McCloud's compelling study of spiritual warfare manuals written by Third Wave American evangelicals is the first of its kind. McCloud carefully examines literature that focuses on cursed objects, spiritual mapping, protective battle prayers, generational demons, and prayer walks to uncover the extraordinary and ordinary aspects of deliverance beliefs and rituals. McCloud reveals how seemingly medieval religious practices are made sensible in the modern world. A fascinating and understudied topic." --Amy DeRogatis, Associate Professor of Religion and American Culture, Michigan State University
"Highly recommended." --CHOICE