{"title":"Books by Ed Simon","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781419767579","title":"Elysium","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eElysium: A Visual History of Angelology\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e is a richly illustrated exploration of how angels have been imagined, described, and depicted across centuries of art, religion, and literature. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten by scholar and cultural critic Ed Simon, this volume brings together striking imagery and accessible commentary to examine the enduring fascination with celestial beings across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and beyond.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn popular culture, angels are often reduced to gentle, sentimental figures—but scripture and sacred tradition tell a far stranger story. From the fear‑inducing messengers of ancient texts to the complex hierarchies of medieval theology, \u003ci\u003eElysium\u003c\/i\u003e traces how angels have embodied humanity’s attempts to understand the divine, the unknowable, and the limits of the mortal world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on illuminated manuscripts, religious art, literature, and modern visual culture, Simon maps the development of angelic orders and legendary figures such as Michael, Gabriel, and Uriel, while also exploring how artists and writers across cultures have grappled with angelic presence, power, and symbolism. Lavishly illustrated throughout, the book invites readers to encounter angels not as decorative motifs, but as unsettling, awe‑inspiring figures that reflect deeper questions about faith, fear, and transcendence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eElysium\u003c\/i\u003e is an authoritative and visually arresting reference for readers interested in religious history, myth, art, and the symbolic language of the sacred.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43230260658354,"sku":"9781419767579","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781419767579.jpg?v=1786019532"},{"product_id":"9781419756382","title":"Pandemonium","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e is a richly illustrated exploration of how demons have been imagined, named, and depicted across centuries of religious belief, art, and literature.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten by scholar and cultural critic Ed Simon and featuring more than 400 color illustrations, this volume brings together striking imagery and lucid commentary to examine the visual and symbolic history of hell and its inhabitants.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcross cultures and eras, demons have served as embodiments of fear, temptation, transgression, and chaos—and as powerful metaphors through which societies have explored morality and the boundaries of belief. \u003ci\u003ePandemonium\u003c\/i\u003e traces the evolution of demonic figures from early scriptural references through medieval theology, Renaissance art, and later literary traditions, showing how conceptions of evil have shifted alongside changes in religious and cultural thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the heart of the book is a detailed examination of demonological hierarchies, including—for the first time—a visual presentation of Satan’s mythic family tree, which situates figures such as Beelzebub, Azazel, Lilith, and Moloch within a broader cosmology of fallen angels and infernal powers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShort, accessible entries introduce individual demons while placing them in conversation with major texts such as Dante’s \u003ci\u003eDivine Comedy\u003c\/i\u003e and Milton’s \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as with larger artistic and intellectual movements.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on rare illustrations from early treatises on demonology, illuminated manuscripts, and works by major Western artists, \u003ci\u003ePandemonium\u003c\/i\u003e presents demons not as mere curiosities, but as enduring symbols that reveal how humanity has visualized evil, rebellion, and the unknown. The book functions both as a visual archive and a cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is an authoritative and visually arresting resource for readers interested in art history, religion, mythology, and the darker dimensions of the sacred imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299547132277,"sku":"9781419756382","price":37.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781419756382_970eacb2-0ac1-486f-9dff-c2b8d1d5a403.jpg?v=1786019313"},{"product_id":"9781685891046","title":"Devil's Contract","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Lively . . . excoriating, eloquent . . . We are all Faustians now.\" — James Wood, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA devilishly fascinating tour of the Faustian bargain through the ages, from brimstone to blues and beyond, now in paperback . . .\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom ancient times to the modern world, the idea of the Faustian  bargain—the exchange of one's soul in return for untold riches and  power—has exerted a magnetic pull upon our collective imaginations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScholar Ed Simon takes us on a historical tour of the Faustian  bargain, from the Bible to blues, and illustrates how the impulse to sacrifice our principles in exchange for power is present in all kinds of social ills, from colonialism to nuclear warfare, from social media to climate change to AI, and beyond. In doing so, Simon conveys just how much the Faustian bargain shows us about power and evil . . . and ourselves.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685915763061,"sku":"9781685892074","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56303445377397,"sku":"9781685891046","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781685892074.jpg?v=1792599154"},{"product_id":"9798889834618","title":"The Dove and the Dragon","description":"\u003cp\u003eNo Western religious concept has been as socially, culturally, economically, and politically significant as that of the apocalypse. Neither heaven and hell, nor sin and salvation, nor even God and the devil have merited the attention of billions of people in the manner that belief in the end of the world has. Apocalyptic thinking is riven by a fruitful--and at times dangerous--binary between the hopes for a coming millennium when all shall be perfected or of a fiery deluge when the earth shall be destroyed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dove and the Dragon\u003c\/i\u003e is the first comprehensive history of Western apocalypticism. Ed Simon introduces a new system for classifying movements concerned with the end of history, between hopeful, millennial \"doves\" and violent, apocalyptic \"dragons.\" This framing connects a seemingly disparate phenomenon, from medieval millennialism to modern Marxism, Reformation apocalypticism to contemporary techno-utopianism. Expected groups are considered, but unexpected phenomena are interpreted through the lens of apocalypticism as well to argue that those that have often been classified as \"secular\" still take part in this ancient theological category.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis new way of interpreting history gives sense to the full scope of apocalypticism as a series of movements and as a genre, including not just religion and theology, but politics, philosophy, and pop culture as well. \u003ci\u003eThe Dove and the Dragon\u003c\/i\u003e promises to be the standard introduction for years to come.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311301931381,"sku":"9798889834618","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"9798765102282","title":"Relic","description":"\u003cp\u003eObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvery culture, every religion, every era has enshrined otherwise regular objects with a significance which stretches beyond their literal importance. Whether the bone of a Catholic martyr, the tooth of a Buddhist lama, or the cloak of a Sufi saint, relics are material conduits to the immaterial world. Yet relics aren't just a feature of religion. The exact same sense of the transcendent animates objects of political, historical, and cultural significance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Abraham Lincoln's death mask to Vladimir Lenin's embalmed corpse, Emily Dickinson's envelopes to Jimi Hendrix's guitar pick, relics are the objects which the faithful understand as being more than just objects. Material things of sacred importance, relics are indicative of a culture's deepest values.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eObject Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311359046005,"sku":"9798765102282","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9798765102282_dfe08b27-8885-4391-bf9b-e44310a2714c.jpg?v=1786032918"},{"product_id":"9798765123218","title":"Writing During the Apocalypse","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAll of American literature is a tragedy. What we’re living through now isn’t a tragedy, however \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e– \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eit’s a horror novel. W\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ehy bother writing when the world’s on fire?   \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRising authoritarianism. Covid. Inflation. Wealth disparity. War. Climate change. While every time period is marked by apocalyptic fears, it certainly seems like our current anxieties aren’t ill placed. And yet, art and literature persist. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn captivating and culturally savvy prose, Ed Simon grapples with the notion that writers and their work ought to distract readers from the dire situation we face in these fetid days of the Anthropocene. He also addresses the wider question of what it's like to write during what could be the last decades of human civilization, arguing that to craft imaginative spaces through the magic of words isn’t superfluous. Instead it exists at the core of human experience – as it always has and always will. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExamining creativity as it has manifested in similarly dire circumstances in human history – in a broad range of authors and texts, such as the \u003ci\u003eBible\u003c\/i\u003e, Boccaccio’s \u003ci\u003eDecameron, \u003c\/i\u003eVoltaire\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003eOctavia Butler’s \u003ci\u003eParable of the Sower\u003c\/i\u003e, and Stephen King’s \u003ci\u003eThe Stand\u003c\/i\u003e – \u003ci\u003eWriting During the Apocalypse \u003c\/i\u003eeschews the easy defeatism of nihilism. Instead, it offers a hopeful perspective on the various ways that literary expression can endow a meaningless world with meaning and generate a spark in the darkness. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the infamous four horsemen as its guide, \u003ci\u003eWriting During the Apocalypse \u003c\/i\u003ehonors the literary life even during the end of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56369571266933,"sku":"9798765123218","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9798765123218_fb578eba-4806-417e-ad6e-3000b9ed431e.jpg?v=1786033013"},{"product_id":"in-praise-of-purple-prose","title":"In Praise of Purple Prose","description":"A playful and irreverent argument for—and practical guide to—writing in a rich and extraordinary styleWhen it comes to literary style, the commonplace wisdom of composition classrooms, newsrooms, and editorial offices has long been that less is more. Students are taught that the best prose is that which eschews ornamentation and rhetorical flourish. But what if sometimes more is more? In Praise of Purple Prose playfully and cheekily contests a century worth of convention that rejects the baroque and byzantine as “purple prose,” making the case that fun and joy in language can be as important as concision and comprehension. Part style guide and part manifesto, the book rewrites the rules on writing.   Ed Simon encourages writers to embrace the extraordinary, to call upon the classical rhetorical devices, and to relish in the richness of description and the erudition of allusion. He demonstrates that serpentine syntax, eccentric diction, and idiosyncratic punctuation, when used judiciously, can express the complexity of experience, bring out the pleasures of language, and help readers develop a unique voice in a world where AI threatens to make everyone sound alike. To illustrate its arguments, the book features examples of extraordinary prose from dozens of writers, including John Donne, Virginia Woolf, Joan Didion, Salman Rushdie, Marilynne Robinson, and Zadie Smith.   Playful and provocative, In Praise of Purple Prose will leave readers with a new appreciation for fancy prose and inspire writers to draw on all of the liveliest and most powerful resources of English in their work.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682750505333,"sku":"9780691270401","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":57499213791605,"sku":"9780691270395","price":84.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780691270401_f2c92de7-3dab-4af6-9b14-b88e5f45800a.jpg?v=1792511617"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-ed-simon.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}