The Divine Supermarket Travels in Search of the Soul of America

Traveling in a battered camping van, Malise Ruthven set out across America in search of the manifestations - often bizarre and sometimes terrifying - of its religious spirit. The journey took him from the dark woods of Puritan New England to neo-Nazi cults in the Rockies; from Mormons and snake handlers to fundamentalist groups who challenge the teaching of evolution; from channelers in California to the sexual and financial scandals surrounding millionaire TV preachers. The Divine Supermarketis his quirky and brilliantly-observed account of the journey, offering illuminating and humorous insights into the baffling soul of modern America.

Malise Ruthven is a writer and historian of the Islamic world. He has been a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Services and has taught Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Aberdeen, the University of California and at Dartmouth. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, among other publications, and is the author of several books, including Fury for God, Fundamentalism and Encounters with Islam (I.B.Tauris, 2012).

"Ruthven is a civilized man, sharp-witted and clever, with an impressive mastery of American social and cultural history and he has written a brilliant account of his travels in search of our spiritual byways and backwaters." -- Los Angeles Times

"A perfect and crazy concept . . . It's a rocking good read and something of a pocket guide to hell." --Time Out