Inventing Hell: Dante, the Bible, and Eternal Torment / Jon M. Sweeney 192 pp.

I sure know how to pick 'em!  My reads are so popular the only image I can find is the attractive Amazon one.  Believe it or not, Hell is fast, interesting, and funny.  Sweeney tracks ideas of the afterlife throughout written history; in fact, the text almost functions as a survey of Western Civ Lite, beginning with the Greeks, Judaism at the time of Jesus, through the Church Fathers, Aquinas and the Enlightenment.  I like Sweeney's smart and skeptical voice.  He's clearly glad to see Hell's power over the modern imagination diminish; still, the Inferno was an exciting ride while it lasted.
P.S.  This is Kathleen's post, published while logged in as Natalie.  I am consigned to Hell's circle for Bad Bloggers.
P.S.S.  I found a better picture but decided the Amazon arrow looked appropriately 'tempting.'