The Secret Life of a Satanist: The Authorized Biography of Anton Szandor LaVey

This is a solid book about a mysterious, eccentric, and somewhat infamous individual. The author knew Mr. Lavey intimately and this gave her important insights about certain details concerning his life. The book clarifies certain details concerning a curse Mr. Lavey placed on Jayne Mansfield's boyfriend. Apparently it was Jayne herself who started up with the cursing ideas. If ever there was an example of somebody playing with fire that's it. Mr. Lavey felt he was on some sort of mission to enable Satanism to become the dominant religion in the entire world. And with the way the world is now some people might think he succeeded. There's some dark threads running through Mr. Lavey's worldview. Some of his ideas are reminiscent of the views of people like Friedrich Nietzsche, Niccolò Machiavelli, George Bernard Shaw, and even the Nazis. Mr. Lavey had some strange ideas like creating robots which looked like real people which could be used as sex slaves. Apparently something like that has been going on for a long time with the so called alien abduction phenomenon. There's also a short chapter in the book about how people can turn into werewolves. As weird as some of this stuff sounds, it may have some basis in reality on some level. Mr. Lavey was somewhat offended when people suggested that his writings such as in the Satanic Bible might drive unstable people to commit acts of violence. While he didn't encourage anyone to do that, he felt society and Christianity were the real culprits and his writings might only cause some people to seek a personal form of justice that society could not give them. There's a strange incident in the chapter called Curses And Coincidences. Mr. Lavey's partner of many years was taking legal action against him including claims of abuse and she was trying to get a restraining order against him. Mr. Lavey told his daughter that all Hell was going to break loose as result of all this. On the very day of the court case a guy by the name of James Huberty went into a McDonald's and massacred a lot of people. Mr. Lavey's estranged partner's father's name was James Hegarty which is almost the same as the mass shooter. Author Blanche Barton saw some sort of supernatural interconnection with all of this. Then in a later chapter called The Invisible Revolution Mr. Lavey himself commented about the McDonald's massacre. He said shooter James Huberty had gotten laid off from his job, he couldn't obtain Valium to calm his nerves, he was surrounded by people who didn't speak English, and most egregious of all was the crew at the McDonald's left the ice cream machine broken for two weeks. Things got weird after Mr. Lavey died. His daughters came in with a crew and raided the Black House and took anything that wasn't nailed down. Then his daughter Zeena said she had placed a curse on her father which caused his death. Some of this stuff would almost be comical if it wasn't so deadly serious. Here's some books about the alien abduction phenomenon: Secret Life by David M. Jacobs Hair of the Alien by Bill Chalker Children Of The Greys by Bret Oldham Ken Arnold was a close acquaintance and colleague of Mr. Lavey's. Mr. Arnold comes up in the following book about the Led Zeppelin curse: The Led Zeppelin Curse by Lance Gilbert Here's an interesting movie about werewolves: Werewolves on Wheels Steve Oliver, Donna Anders Michel Levesque (Director) Rated: R Format: Blu-ray

I've read the original "The Secret Life of a Satanist", it was a very entertaining, fascinating book about the life of the high preist of the church of satan. This updated version goes beyond where the 1st edition leaves off. Blanche Barton has done an outstanding job of putting the revised edition together for all those curious enough to witness. After finishing the book, I felt as though I spent an evening with the High Priest of the church of satan himself, Anton Szandor LaVey. I've read his other book, The Satanic Bible and found I had the same beliefs even before reading it. The revised edition has revised chapters and a chapter describing the final days of Anton LaVey's life. I won't give away any other details on the book, you'll have to buy the book yourself to find out more details. If you're a true Satanist, or a person with an open mind, you'll love this book. If you're a born-again Christian, read the bible instead. As for myself, I'm neither Christian or Satanist. I would call myself an "I-Theist". This book is very entertaining and you'll want to read it a second time. Highly recommended book.

An extremely personal and emotion evoking invitation into the life and times of one of the most notorious individuals of the past century. From his childhood and upbringing, to the many and various scenarios he encountered, this book presents a first-hand narrative of Anton Szandor LaVey and introduces the creating elements involved in the design of the worlds most controversial religions. Blanche Barton shares the glorious joys and bitter moments which presented themselves throughout the life of perhaps the most honest liar of them all. With a master's craft she weaves the tapesty of not only Anton S. LaVey's life but that of The Church of Satan and its not-so-humble beginnings. With all new photographs and excerpts to enjoy, this updated and revised edition cannot come highly enough recommended to anyone interested in the COS and the history of it's founder. Respect or despise him, Doctor LaVey created something more real than any boogeyman in your closet or man in the sky. This heartfelt and real representation of his life defines the legacy which lives on in so many, and in some whether they realize it or not

I am not a Satanist, but a Non-theistic Pagan who was curious about the life Anton Szander LaVey and how Satanism became the atheistic religion it is today. I watched his old interviews on YouTube and he seemed like a great intelligent man. After reading this book, I feel like I grown to know what he was all about thanks to his late wife Blanche Barton and others who knew him during his life. I respect Anton Szander LaVey more standing up for what he believed and disbelieved him without conforming to a society that was and still is heavily monotheistic Abrahamic religious oriented in the western world...while finding appreciation and acceptance to both human nature and human sexuality without treating it like it is sinful...or something to repress and be ashamed of to live honestly. You don't have to be part of any ideology to recognize how important that is to live a life that is liberating and encouraging to seek knowledge wherever it leads to than settle for religious faith. I have read the "Satanic Bible" and have other books I have yet to read after ordering them on Amazon. I may not believe in the ritual aspects in Satanism, but believe in most of the philosophy. I recommend people with a open-minded to buy and read this book. 😊

There's so many quotes from LaVey in this book that by the end you feel like you've had a long intimate conversation with the Doctor himself. Well written and magnetic piece that really pulls you in. This was tough to put down. I did find one factual inconsistency worth mentions in regards to the paragraph about Lou Gordon. According to the book Lou Gordon interviewed LaVey in 1969, was cursed, and died within the year (page 218 ). Lou Gordon died in 1977 so this curse took longer than stated. Joe Pyne on the other hand....not so lucky.

Thank you!

I’m very excited to read more about this person and their story. I’m a very open-minded person so topics like these are generally fascinating to me. However, before I received this book someone wrote on one of the pages “god is the way.” It’s disappointing because I’m adding this book to my personal collection and I’m not religious. Also it’s annoying because that means at some point during the packaging of my order someone pulled out a pen and flipped to a page to write an unwarranted message. 🙄 It’s a great book, just beware of the little messages from the closed-minded at Amazon.

As the late Dr. LaVey himself said in his most famous of books titled The Satanic Bible (Avon. New York. 1969), "What you see may not always please you; however, YOU WILL SEE!" Written by his life partner with whom he had a child named Satan Xerxes LaVey, Blanche Barton, the book will not only go to prove that fundamentalist Christians are wrong about this anthropomorphic deity with "red skin and horns on its head" called "Satan". It goes a long way toward disproving the possible existence of the phantasmagorical illusion many call "Jesus Christ". Not that there never was such a person is Jesus and/or Yeshua. There was. However, taking into consideration that all the earliest records ended up in primitive garbage landfills scattered throughout the Mideast, the church created the entire Christian story.

Excellent read! Loved it!

Das Buch gibt es auch in Deutsch und das kann ich jedem empfehlen, der nicht an Satanismus glaubt und der denkt das ist ein WITZ! Das ist ganz und gar kein Witz, denn hier haben wir es mit dem Gründer der ersten Satanischen Kirche zu tun. Und wie man das wird und warum man das gründet beschreibt hier Anton Szandor LaVey wirklich sehr dokumentarisch. Ich habe das gelesen, weil ich die Gegenseite auch kennenlernen will wie die TICKT!!

After reading The Satanic Bible a decade ago, I found this to be an incredible insight into Doktor LaVey, who founded the Church of Satan back in 1966. Magistra Barton offers the reader an unique and accurate portrayal of the man who slept beside a fully grown lion, worked as a police photographer and even shared a rumoured romance with Marilyn Moneroe. A must read for a Satanist but also an all around great biography of one of histories most revered and misunderstood minds.

Durante años, Blanche Barton fue pareja de Anton LaVey. Esta es la biografía más conocida del Papa Negro y es muy más interesante, pero tiene el problema de que es no es nada crítica con el fundador de la Iglesia de Satán. Aún así, es muy entretenida. Aún no he leído "Born with a tail", de Doug Brod, que es más crítica, así que no puedo comparar.

I really like this book, I already have the original 1991 version, so it was interesting to see what the author (Blanche Barton) has edited, which turned outs to be quite a lot, from the odd word, to full sentences, and paragraphs. The extra photos are nice, too.