Perdition is Part One of The Profane Comedy, an epic poem that encompasses all of US history, literature and philosophy. It uses Dante's epic architecture to show the way to attain enlightenment by following a modern, secular path. Thirty powerful illustrations provide the visual impact.

The poet, with Lincoln as his guide, wanders from scene to scene, first at the gate of hell, with Ronald Reagan, next Herbert Hoover, then Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis Presley, then a bunch of fetuses, then a hostile audience, and so on, until he comes into Satan's presence, with Teddy Roosevelt and Nixon nearby. Then he goes through the river of cleansing fire...

In each scene, the featured characters are stand-ins for their time, a microcosmic example of those who (as Dante said of Inferno) had lost the good of their intellect, causing America to lose its creative energy, in recognition of the very destructive energy also unleashed in its imperial expansion. In Perdition they are paying for sins far beyond their own, and the fact that everybody from one period of time has been cast into the pit is yet another irony. By the time Fing finally meets Satan, it's become clear that the sins have been imperial in nature, a hubristic dominance of the world, and the cold inhumanity of society's institutions. But Perdition is just the first of three canticles: Limbo, where Fing returns to the mainland of the USA, and Elysium, in which Fing is raised into the heavens.

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We first started out as ?The Paperback Exchange,? a chain of physical bookstores where we would part exchange your beloved books for new stories to transport you to faraway places. However, as shopping started to evolve to online shops and marketplaces, we bid our stores goodbye to become ?PBShop.? This transition has only allowed us to blossom as we now ship thousands of titles to book lovers across the globe. We pride ourselves in being a community of local book lovers which allows our passion and devotion to shine in everything we do. In 2020 we not only celebrated our 20th birthday but our 1st birthday as being completely employee owned after becoming an E.O.T in September 2019. We are proud to be different and embrace standing apart on a book mountain by working from a virtual inventory which allows us to provide thousands of books that may be difficult to get for your bookshelf or your studies. Working with a number of different suppliers allows us to explore other avenues such as puzzles, sheet music and even stationery so we really do have something for everyone. Life is about being versatile in all realms of existence. If this is your first visit or you are a returning customer, we would like to welcome you to the PBShop family, for there is no friend as loyal as a book. We are a company who put our customers at the centre of everything we do as we understand the importance of reading because once you learn to read, you will forever be free. There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours that we are yet to explore, which is why we will forever inspire curious minds.

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