In this thought-provoking work, Huxley focuses his incisive intellect on a group of seventeenth-century French nuns who are possessed by "devils." A witch-hunt ensues and a priest, innocent at least of being a magician, becomes the victim of his enemies, who use the nuns' "possession" to justify judicial murder. Huxley's insights into the terrible consequences of obsession with evil is more than just historically interesting. His central thesis, that preoccupation with evil in others never leads to anything positive, illuminates the current moralizing tendencies in the political activism of the religious right. A lucidly told, fascinating account of the consequences of unbridled righteousness put at the service of political ends. Highly recommended.