The Vatican's Exorcists: Driving Out the Devil in the 21st Century

This book was quite interesting. Not just due to the subject material but really Tracy Wilkinson gave us a complete background on the beliefs, the Church and various priests views on exorcisms. From chapter to chapter she breaks down by history, the exorcists, patients, cults, the church and of course, you can't leave out the opinions of the skeptics and shrinks.

I've always enjoyed a good book that is basically nonfiction. This one was one of those. And really I still don't know whether I believe that people can be possessed. I guess I'm a skeptic, but I'm open minded enough to think that perhaps....just perhaps. But that's all Ms. Wilkinson is giving the reader, a chance to learn about what the church thinks about exorcisms and how show more they handle the various people that come to them for help. Then the stories that were written about a few of the patients. Really, each one is very different and can be construed in different ways, but if they believe and have faith in that, good for them.

Very good book if you're interested in learning more about exorcisms and the history behind this mysterious form of faith, then go ahead and read this book. Then you can make your own conclusions! show less

This review of exorcism is a quick and easy read, and that is actually one of its downsides; it is superficial and incomplete. The author writes it like a magazine article (since she is a reporter, that probably isn't surprising), and simply reports, for the most part, the views of the people she interviews. Hard, investigative reporting is almost totally absent, and there is a brief skimming over analysis; in fact, the analysis could have been done by a college freshman writing a research paper on the project. The personal stories are interesting, but also superficial and breathlessly credulous. It's an interesting human interest story, but nothing more.

Finished this one a couple of weeks ago and just now getting around to journaling it. It was interesting but not quite as riveting as I had expected. The author does a fair job of remaining objective and presenting all sides of a complex issue. The most interesting parts, of course, were the case histories describing people who have seen exorcists.

Excellent read. Very interesting portrayal of a difficult topic. Author attempts to remain largely unbiased and does an excellent job and giving differing views a fair shake.