Synopses & Reviews
"In this exquisitely written book, Denery draws on centuries of rumination on the moral issues surrounding lying to address the question of how we should live in a fallen world. The serpent in the Garden of Eden led humankind astray with lies. The Devil is the father of lies. Premodern sources agonized constantly over the act of lying. Denery not only superbly narrates the long history of this obsession, but also locates the conditions that reveal an Enlightenment shift toward a not entirely comfortable modernity."
--William Chester Jordan, Princeton University"Can God lie? Are women 'born liars'? These are just two of the questions Denery asks--and answers--in his wide-ranging, erudite study. Written in an engaging and accessible style, The Devil Wins sheds a new and fascinating light on a mendacious world stretching from the Book of Genesis to the dawn of the Enlightenment."--Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, author of Poets, Saints, and Visionaries of the Great Schism, 1378-1417
"This is a wonderful and beautifully written book. The fruit of extensive research, The Devil Wins traces the history of lying and deception through the medieval and early modern periods. Denery offers compelling and immensely significant arguments."--Ian P. Wei, author of Intellectual Culture in Medieval Paris
"This is a marvelous book. Denery uses a fundamental question--when, if ever, is it acceptable to lie?--to explore a vast intellectual and historical terrain. In doing so, he gives us one of the most subtle and penetrating briefs I have read for the importance of medieval thought for modern efforts to understand ethics, politics, and conscience. I read this book with enormous delight."--Jonathan Sheehan, author of The Enlightenment Bible
Review
"[The Devil Wins is] an informative, sophisticated, and thought-provoking account of the efforts of theologians and philosophers from the early Christian era to the Enlightenment to define lies and understand their ethical, social, and political implications."--Glenn Altschuler, Psychology Today
Review
"Denery explores analyses of an enormous variety of deceptions, and does so with an erudition that is never pedantic or monotonous. He is an entertaining writer, with a healthy skepticism about the dogmatic condemnation of lying as always, or even mostly, morally blameworthy. . . . I think Nietzsche would have loved this book."--Clancy Martin, Chronicle of Higher Education
Review
and#8220;Another intriguing title from a smart and intriguing publisher, Boltand#8217;s is a book to inspire both pleasure and paranoia. . . . The Encyclopaediaand#160;is a marvel.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Strangely addictive. A reader is apt to feel repelled by a hoaxsterand#8217;s audacity and heartlessness yet intensely curious about how and why the deed was done.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A cornucopia of curiosities, Boltand#8217;s A to Z of 150 case studies is a raconteurand#8217;s dream. Brimming with tales of forgeries, fakers, the faithless, and the facile, it pays homage to the weird and sometimes wonderful, from criminal milkmen in 21st-century China, Ptolemyand#8217;s plagiarism in AD 150, Clever Hans, the horse that appeared to master arithmetic, and Hitlerand#8217;s diaries. . . . deception is endemic in society. Bolt, as ringmaster of this menagerie of malcontents and mischiefs, allows us to glimpse outside the confines of the everyday. It is utterly diverting.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;In a time when getting to the andlsquo;truthandrsquo; can involve ill-informed conjecture or a maze of grey areas, this encyclopedia provides a useful countermeasure with its treatment of verifiable falsehoods, fibbers, and andlsquo;factsandrsquo; found fictitious.andrdquo;
Review
"The Devil Wins is a learned and accessible introduction to a fascinating subject."--Biancamaria Fontana, Times Higher Education
Review
"What emerges through all five chapters is a fascinating trajectory that takes us from a time when lies were considered by some theologians to be absolutely and categorically sinful, to an age when it was widely accepted that modern society depended on them . . . well researched, fluidly written, and persuasively argued."--Hans Rollman, PopMatters
Review
"The Devil Wins is an enjoyable and well-written book, a serious contribution to what might constitute a history of the complicated elements of culture and society that enable people to tell lies."--Andrew Hadfield, Textual Practice
Synopsis
A bold retelling of the history of lying in medieval and early modern Europe
Is it ever acceptable to lie? This question plays a surprisingly important role in the story of Europe's transition from medieval to modern society. According to many historians, Europe became modern when Europeans began to lie--that is, when they began to argue that it is sometimes acceptable to lie. This popular account offers a clear trajectory of historical progression from a medieval world of faith, in which every lie is sinful, to a more worldly early modern society in which lying becomes a permissible strategy for self-defense and self-advancement. Unfortunately, this story is wrong.
For medieval and early modern Christians, the problem of the lie was the problem of human existence itself. To ask "Is it ever acceptable to lie?" was to ask how we, as sinners, should live in a fallen world. As it turns out, the answer to that question depended on who did the asking. The Devil Wins uncovers the complicated history of lying from the early days of the Catholic Church to the Enlightenment, revealing the diversity of attitudes about lying by considering the question from the perspectives of five representative voices--the Devil, God, theologians, courtiers, and women. Examining works by Augustine, Bonaventure, Martin Luther, Madeleine de Scud ry, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and a host of others, Dallas G. Denery II shows how the lie, long thought to be the source of worldly corruption, eventually became the very basis of social cohesion and peace.
Synopsis
Is it ever acceptable to lie? This question plays a surprisingly important role in the story of Europe's transition from medieval to modern society. According to many historians, Europe became modern when Europeans began to lie--that is, when they began to argue that it is sometimes acceptable to lie. This popular account offers a clear trajectory of historical progression from a medieval world of faith, in which every lie is sinful, to a more worldly early modern society in which lying becomes a permissible strategy for self-defense and self-advancement. Unfortunately, this story is wrong.
For medieval and early modern Christians, the problem of the lie was the problem of human existence itself. To ask "Is it ever acceptable to lie?" was to ask how we, as sinners, should live in a fallen world. As it turns out, the answer to that question depended on who did the asking. The Devil Wins uncovers the complicated history of lying from the early days of the Catholic Church to the Enlightenment, revealing the diversity of attitudes about lying by considering the question from the perspectives of five representative voices--the Devil, God, theologians, courtiers, and women. Examining works by Augustine, Bonaventure, Martin Luther, Madeleine de Scudéry, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and a host of others, Dallas G. Denery II shows how the lie, long thought to be the source of worldly corruption, eventually became the very basis of social cohesion and peace.
Synopsis
Throughout history we have been subject to the covert artistry of liars, deceivers, fraudsters, counterfeiters, or unfaithful lovers. In nearly 400 entries,
The Encyclopedia of Liars and Deceivers documents a huge assortment of legerdemain: from infamous quacks to fraudulent scientists, and from crooks who faked their own deaths (and#147;pseudocidesand#8221;) to forgers of artworks, design objects, archaeological finds, and documents of all sorts. From false royal claims, dragonand#8217;s eggs, and perpetual motion machines, to rare books, mermaid skeletons, and Stradivari violinsand#151;you name it and itand#8217;s been forged or faked by someone, at some time in history.
The book contains a large number of famous figuresand#151;from Albert Einstein, Cicero, and Ptolemy, to Ernest Hemingway, Franand#231;ois Mitterrand, and Marco Poloand#151;as well as scores who would have remained unknown if their duplicity had not been uncovered. All take their rightful place in the catalogue of shame that is The Encyclopedia of Liars and Deceivers. The book will bring immense cheer to those who enjoy tall tales, as well as those who like to tell them.
Synopsis
George Washington may never have told a lie, but he may be the only personand#151;our history is littered with liars, deceivers, fraudsters, counterfeiters, and unfaithful lovers.and#160;
The Encyclopaedia of Liars and Deceiversand#160;gathers 150 of them, each entry telling the intriguing tale of the liarand#8217;s motives and the people who fell for the lies.
and#160;
To collect these stories of deceit, Roelf Bolt travels from ancient times to the present day, documenting a huge assortment of legerdemain: infamous quacks, fraudulent scientists, crooks who committed and#147;pseudocidesand#8221; by faking their own deaths, and forgers of artworks, design objects, archaeological finds, and documents. From false royal claims, fake dragonand#8217;s eggs, and bogus perpetual motion machines to rare books, mermaid skeletons, and Stradivari violins, Bolt reveals that almost everything has been forged or faked by someone at some point in history. His short, accessible narratives in each entry offer biographies and general observations on specific categories of deceit, and Bolt captures an impressive number of famous figuresand#151;including Albert Einstein, Cicero, Ptolemy, Ernest Hemingway, Franand#231;ois Mitterand, and Marco Poloand#151;as well as people who would have remained anonymous had their duplicity not come to light.
and#160;
Funny, shocking, and even awe-inspiring, the stories of deception in this catalog of shame makeand#160;The Encyclopaedia of Liars and Deceiversand#160;the perfect gift for all those who enjoy a good tall taleand#151;and those people who like to tell them.
About the Author
Dallas G. Denery II is associate professor of history at Bowdoin College. He is the author of Seeing and Being Seen in the Later Medieval World: Optics, Theology, and Religious Life and the coeditor of Uncertain Knowledge: Scepticism, Relativism, and Doubt in the Middle Ages.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Is It Ever Acceptable to Lie? 1
Part One: Theologians Ask the Question
Chapter One. The Devil 21
Six Days and Two Sentences Later 21
The Devil and the Lie 22
Making Sense of Genesis 1, 2, and 3 28
The Devil's Lie from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages 35
The Devil's Lie from the Middle Ages to the Reformation 47
The Prince of This World 52
From Satan's Stratagems to Human Nature 55
Chapter Two. God 62
Can God Lie? 62
On Lions, Fishhooks, and Mousetraps 67
Divine Deception and the Sacrament of Truth 77
Luther, Calvin, and the Hidden God 88
René Descartes, Pierre Bayle, and the End of Divine Deception 94
Chapter Three. Human Beings 105
Every Lie Is a Sin 105
Every Sin Is a Lie 110
Biblical Liars 116
Augustine among the Scholastics 119
Institutional Transformations 131
Equivocation, Mental Reservation, and Amphibology 135
From Pascal to Augustine and Beyond 145
Part Two: Courtiers and Women Ask the Question
Chapter Four. Courtiers 153
Flatterers, Wheedlers, and Gossipmongers 153
Early Modern Uncertainty and Deception 158
Uncertainty and Skepticism in the Medieval Court 163
Entangled in Leviathan's Loins 169
Christine de Pizan and Just Hypocrisy 175
From Lies to Civility 181
Bernard Mandeville and the World Lies Built 190
Chapter Five. Women 199
Lessons about Lies 199
All about Eve, All about Women 205
The Biology of Feminine Deceit 211
Christine de Pizan, Misogyny, and Self-Knowledge 216
All Men Are Liars 226
Madeleine de Scudéry, the Salon, and the Pleasant Lie 237
Conclusion: The Lie Becomes Modern 247
Notes 257
Bibliography 303
Index 327