The Reign of Satan, written by the radical Benjamin Gastineau and originally published in 1848, the same year the author was convicted for writing for Proudhon's journal La Voix du Peuple, is a true page-turner-a fast-moving melodrama with all the trappings of the genre. The story, which centers around two orphans, Maurice and Juliette, and their contentions with various evil influences, most especially that of the satanic Baron Barcas, is one...