{"product_id":"book-d8vp","title":"Messiah","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMessiah\u003c\/i\u003e traces the collapse of Christianity and the rise of the next great religion of Western civilization: Cavism. Founded by undertaker John Cave, Cavism holds that it is a holy thing to die. Packaged by a marketing genius, the new religion conquers the world more quickly than any prior memeplex, but pockets of resistance remain. Eugene Luther, formerly an apostle of Cavism, now a hunted apostate, writes his memoirs as a last gesture of freedom while the noose of a totalitarian religious state tightens around him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA blend of satire and secular prophecy first published in 1954, \u003ci\u003eMessiah\u003c\/i\u003e anticipates the rise of televangelism and engineered religions such as Scientology (Vidal met L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s), and prefigures the great religio-dystopian novels of the era: Heinlein’s \u003ci\u003eStranger in a Strange Land\u003c\/i\u003e and Vonnegut’s \u003ci\u003eCat’s Cradle\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliance Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49372949315888,"sku":"BDd8vp","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD [10]","offer_id":49372949283120,"sku":"10d8vp","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/d8vp-Square-cover.jpg?v=1773836937","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-d8vp","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}