Curious posts for curious people — Evil Books

If you’ve ever wandered through the shadowy corners of religious history, you’ve likely encountered the name John Fox — the Elizabethan writer whose monumental work, Actes and Monuments, became better known as Fox’s Book of Martyrs. By the time the 1814 edition appeared, the book had already shaped English Protestant identity for over two centuries. It was a household text, a pulpit companion, and, depending on who you ask, either a sacred chronicle of heroic suffering… or a dangerous piece of propaganda. Let’s explore what the book actually contains — and why later generations sometimes branded it “evil.” What the Book...