Accidental Gods

On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine

By: Anna Della Subin

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Ever since 1492, when Christopher Columbus made landfall in the New World and was hailed as a heavenly being, the accidental god has haunted the modern age. From Haile Selassie, acclaimed as the Living God in Jamaica, to Britain's Prince Philip, who became the unlikely center of a new religion on a South Pacific island, men made divine - always men - have appeared on every continent. And because these deifications always emerge at moments of turbulence - civil wars, imperial conquest, revolutions - they have much to teach us.

In a revelatory history spanning five centuries, a cast of surprising deities helps to shed light on the thorny questions of how our modern concept of "religion" was invented; why religion and politics are perpetually entangled in our supposedly secular age; and how the power to call someone divine has been used and abused by both oppressors and the oppressed. From nationalist uprisings in India to Nigerien spirit possession cults, Anna Della Subin explores how deification has been a means of defiance for colonized peoples. Conversely, we see how Columbus, Cortes, and other white explorers amplified stories of their godhood to justify their dominion over native peoples, setting into motion the currents of racism and exclusion that have plagued the New World ever since they touched its shores.

©2021 Anna Della Subin (P)2022 Tantor

Probably interesting subject but unlistenable

The subject interested me and the reviews were stellar. However, the narration is about the worst I've ever heard. The narrator speaks in a dull monotone, with virtually no expression. At times it sounded as if she were bored or at least very sleepy. I wanted to return it but I was informed it was not eligible for return. Too bad, a wasted credit.