Carlos Acevedo – författare

“At a time when criticsare expected to be publicists, and anything famous is ‘classic’ or ‘iconic,’Carlos Acevedo has managed to hold the line. The Devil Inside is asharp, hard-nosed aesthetic and cultural investigation into what everybody wasthrowing up about fifty years ago. It succeeds as criticism, history, andsocial analysis.”—Charles Taylor, film critic at Esquire, and authorof Opening Wednesday at a Theater or Drive-In Near You: The Shadow Cinema ofthe American ’70sIn 1973, The Exorcistleft moviegoers gripping their rosary beads, vomiting in their popcorn buckets,and fainting in the sticky aisles. Cynically marketed as a cursed productionbased on a “true story,” The Exorcist quickly became one of the mostcontroversial films ever released. With its groundbreaking special effects,relentless pace, and terrifying finale, the film revolutionized the horrorgenre and paved the way for future blockbusters.In The Devil Inside,Carlos Acevedo goes beyond the myths to examine the national uproar TheExorcist caused, as well as the dark, real-world effects it had on ajittery audience. Until now, books about The Exorcist have largelyperpetuated its legends while overlooking its cultural background. The DevilInside places the film in its cinematic and social context—as a product ofthe New Hollywood, when maverick directors hijacked the film industry, and aspart of the supernatural trends of the times, when the occult permeated music,books, and movies. From the originalpossession case that inspired the novel to the troubled production to theconflicts on the set to the uptick in demands for actual exorcisms, TheDevil Inside sheds new light on a shocking phenomenon that has remained apop-culture touchstone for fifty years.

“The Duke is a harrowing tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, and a gripping read. Don’t miss it.”—T. J. English, New York Times bestselling author of Havana NocturneAn American Gothic… In the early 1990s, Tommy Morrison, a young roughneck from Jay, Oklahoma, burst onto the boxing scene to become one of the most controversial fighters of his era. Handsome, eloquent, and dynamic, Morrison parlayed destructive knockout power and a homespun personality into celebrity status throughout middle America, where boxing rarely prospered. But it was his starring role in Rocky V alongside Sylvester Stallone that propelled him to stardom–and ultimately led to his tragic downfall. His brush with Hollywood fame triggered a limitless appetite for parties, liquor, and sex. When Morrison was shockingly diagnosed with HIV in 1996, his life imploded, and his subsequent descent into drugs, prison, bigamy, and conspiracy theories made Morrison notorious long after his glory days had ended.In The Duke, Carlos Acevedo chronicles Morrison’s tumultuous life from his days as a teenaged Toughman contestant, to his victory over George Foreman, to his struggles with HIV and depression, to his death at forty-four, when his delusions finally overtook him.Morrison himself was a divisive figure but critics and readers are unanimous about Acevedo’s The Duke.“This is a big American saga writ large, just the sort of tortured tale Carlos Acevedo tells so well.”—Don Stradley, author of The War: Hagler–Hearns and Three Rounds for the Ages“I love how Carlos Acevedo writes. He's detached and immersive, observant and detailed, unsparing and fair. He brings to life what I love—and what I don't love—about boxing. That's clear in The Duke, which examines not just Tommy Morrison, but Morrison's place in boxing, celebrity culture, and the greater sports consciousness. It's the perfect marriage of writer and subject, written sharply, broadly and expertly—and hard to put down.”—Greg Bishop senior writer, Sports Illustrated

Cannibalism.Ritual murders. Cults. Blood rites. Possessions. Human trafficking. At a timewhen Ronald Reagan promised optimism, America found itself gripped by awidespread mania: the fear that devil worshippers were rising from a demonic undergroundto commit unspeakable acts of violence and mayhem. For more than a decade—fromthe early 1980s to the mid-1990s—America suffered through what is nowinfamously known as the “Satanic Panic.” Primed by the Occult-tinged ’60s, whenAnton LaVey founded the Church of Satan, Roman Polanski shocked the public withRosemary's Baby, and the Manson Family became shorthand for evil, theSatanic Panic eventually grew into a national obsession.Acrossthe country, crimes both real and imagined, ranging from human sacrifices,multiple murders, and Satanic Ritual Abuse dominated mass media coverage.Serial killers such as David Berkowitz, “The Son of Sam,” who terrorized NewYork City in the late 1970s, the “Chicago Ripper” crew, allegedly run by aflesh-eating devil worshiper and “The Night Stalker,” Richard Ramirez, whosebloodlust seemed unquenchable, fueled fears of a war for the soul of Americaagainst the forces of darkness.InAmerican Hellfire, Carlos Acevedo traces the roots of Satanic Panic fromits beginnings as a pop-culture phenomenon to the sociological factors thatreached critical mass in the 1980s.  Along the way, the notorious crimesattributed to Satanism—including the daycare hysteria that saw dozens ofinnocent people indicted for atrocities they never committed—are revisited, aswell as the hoaxes, tragedies, and conspiracy theories of an era whosenightmarish anxieties never truly went away.