Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan
Infernal Wisdom from the Devil’s Den
Carl Abrahamsson
Inner Traditions 2022
Pb, 424pp, £18.99, ISBN 9781644112410
Given the scope of available candidates for the title of Devil incarnate, one finds it difficult to imagine that Anton LaVey would even get a look in! LaVey was born in Chicago in 1930, and his ascendancy to High Priest of his very own Church of Satan is the stuff of “pulp” itself. He was a talented musician (affirmed by all who knew him), but a far from dependable narrator; his fanciful tales of working the burlesque bars and seedy carnivals are recalled here with tongues firmly in cheeks. That noted, Carl Abrahamsson’s collection of interviews with friends, lovers and fellow devotees provides a very human, humorous and sympathetic account of a man born to notoriety. Neither a controlling mystic nor a heartless Darwinian, LaVey remained a gentleman and a loyal friend to all who shared his company, we discover.
More Liberace with attitude than Lucifer, LaVey offered a brand of Satanism with its roots in the hedonism that dominated post-war consumerist society. Tapping into the emergent self-help and personal growth industry, he mixed a bit of Nietzsche and some old fashioned antiauthoritarian individualism with a healthy dash of showmanship. This was a winning formula that appealed both to Hollywood stars and countercultural figures such as Jayne (1969) and (1972), LaVey began to attract media interest. No shrinking violet, he appeared on such primetime staples as and the and featured in and .
