tion—developed by John Nelson Darby in the
1800’s. After the Rapture, in which good Christians
are taken into Heaven, those remaining on Earth,
those “left behind,” suffer ordeal after ordeal and
the coming of the Antichrist until Jesus Christ re-
turns to Earth and time ends. LaHaye and Jenkins
take the biblical prophecies literally, including men-
aces such as stinging insects with human faces. The
novels follow several characters with whom the
reader is encouraged to identify.
Jenkins, who did the writing based on LaHaye’s
notes, has written over 150 books, both fiction and
nonfiction, and has worked for the Moody Bible In-
stitute, at which LaHaye also worked. LaHaye en-
couraged televangelist Jerry Falwell to found the
Moral Majority and sat on its board of directors; he
also founded various Christian conservative activist
and lobbying groups himself.
Although the series appealed mostly to Chris-
tians, many did not agree with all the doctrines in the
books. Some have criticized the books as being anti-
Catholic. Others have criticized the depictions of
violence, guns, and car chases, and the implied mes-
sage that solving the world’s problems is unneces-
sary—or, as in the case of the Antichrist promising
world peace, actually bad.
Impact Perhaps fueled by the approach of the mil-
lennium, the popularity of the novels brought atten-
tion to Christian publishers, whose books often sold
very well but did not generally get covered by best-
seller lists. The series also gave a concrete depiction
of Darbyist end times events, as believed by a signifi-
cant and vocal American minority. While many
critics simply dismissed the books, others exam-
ined them as religious statements, for their cultural
significance and as signs of popular tastes in litera-
ture.
Further Reading
Forbes, Bruce David, and Jeanne Halgren Kilde, eds.
Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times: Exploring the
Left Behind Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
- A collection of essays, academic but gener-
ally readable.
Shuck, Glenn W.Marks of the Beast: The Left Behind
Novels and the Struggle for Evangelical Identity. New
York: New York University Press, 2004. Thorough,
especially about the theological context.
Bernadette Lynn Bosky
See also Falwell, Jerry; Grisham, John; King, Ste-
phen; Publishing; Religion and spirituality in the
United States. Lewinsky scandal
The Event U.S. president Bill Clinton’s sexual
dalliance with White House intern Monica
Lewinsky leads to his impeachment trial
Date 1995-1999
Only one president before Clinton, Andrew Johnson, was
impeached. In both cases, the Congress that demanded im-
peachment failed to obtain the conviction that would have
resulted in removal from office.
During his presidency, Bill Clinton was dogged by al-
legations of scandal related to his private life and leg-
endary womanizing. At the beginning of his second
term of office in January, 1997, independent coun-
sel Kenneth Starr was involved in investigating po-
tentially damaging charges, launched in 1994, that
Clinton and his wife, Hillary, had enriched them-
selves substantially before they came to Washington
through their involvement in the Whitewater affair,The Nineties in America Lewinsky scandal 511
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.(AP/Wide
World Photos)