The artistic and political movement known as Romantic Satanism challenged the traditional Christian concept of Satan as the source of all evil, recasting the Devil as a heroic rebel in a struggle against oppression and injustice. Works in the genre of Romantic Satanism were penned by some of the greatest authors of the 19th century, including Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, George Sand, and Victor Hugo. However, the only literature available on Romantic Satanism, written by and for academics, is not very accessible to a general audience.

In Introduction to Romantic Satanism, Satanic historian Michael Osiris Snuffin presents a clear and concise overview of this fascinating subject, describing the historical events that changed people’s attitudes about Satan and exploring the literary origins of the genre in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Using five themes of Romantic Satanism, Snuffin examines sixteen Satanic works written by influential English and French authors, from William Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell to Anatole France’s Revolt of the Angels. These authors created a new concept of Satan for the modern world, portraying him as a noble revolutionary fighting against religious tyranny. Introduction to Romantic Satanism reveals this modern Satan, a figure more relevant to 21st century Satanic activism than the archaic Devil of Christian mythology.