{"product_id":"2026600003120-secondhand-messiah","title":"Messiah","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdition: 1st ed.,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Fair                          \u003cbr\u003eJacket: Wear and tear\u003cbr\u003ePages: Tanning and foxing                  \u003cbr\u003eMarkings: No markings\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA darkly satirical work of speculative fiction, Messiah chronicles the terrifying rise of a new American religion built around the seductive gospel of death, as narrated by an aging scholar reflecting on the cult he once helped create. Gore Vidal constructs a chilling portrait of mass manipulation, presenting the charismatic John Cave — a man whose singular message, that death is to be embraced rather than feared, ignites a global movement that eclipses Christianity itself. With razor-sharp wit and prophetic unease, the novel argues that humanity's hunger for spiritual certainty makes it dangerously susceptible to those who offer simple, absolute answers. Vidal illustrates how media, marketing, and institutional power can transform a fringe ideology into an unstoppable orthodoxy, stripping away individual thought in the process. Written in 1954 but startlingly prescient, this work of literary dystopia stands as one of the author's most incisive and unsettling meditations on faith, power, and the American capacity for self-destruction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48792195104987,"sku":"2026600003120-SECONDHAND","price":25.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/dcbf46ae-b2eb-4bfd-8b5b-05c66ef70a0e.png?v=1779273243","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026600003120-secondhand-messiah","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}