Marks of the Beast

Glenn Shuck's Marks of the Beast is a thorough account of the negotiation of evangelical identity in one of the world's best-selling fiction series. The book is an expanded version of his Rice University doctoral thesis, and makes bold claims for its own “potential” and “importance” (vii). There is little doubt about the potential and importance of the Left Behind series the book discusses. Since the publication of the first instalment in 1995, the series has sold some sixty-five million products, and its franchise has expanded into board games, clothing, music, a controversial video game, and three movies, the first of which was the most expensive film ever made by evangelicals, and which outsold all other titles in America in the first week of its video release. In 2001, the ninth book in the series displaced John Grisham from the number one spot in Publishers Weekly, becoming the best-selling work of adult hardback fiction in the world. Left Behind is taking some of the central elements of evangelicalism to a wider audience than ever before. Nevertheless, a growing number of evangelicals are voicing their disquiet about the series' presuppositions. As Shuck clearly demonstrates, Left Behind provides an uncertain foundation for the articulation of evangelical identity.

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