Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting
"Poole brings to life American horror stories by framing them within folk belief, religion, and popular culture, broadly unraveling the idea of the monster. Thanks to Poole's insights we see the ubiquity of the monster lurking in and around us."--John David Smith, Charles H. Stone Distinguished Professor of American History, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte"Poole's connection of the monster to American history is a kind of Creature Features meets American cultural history. Here we not only meet such monsters but also discover America's cultural monstrosity."--John W. Morehead, editor, TheoFantastique.com"A well informed, thoughtful, and indeed frightening angle of vision to a persistent and compelling American desire to be entertained by the grotesque and the horrific."--Gary Laderman, Professor of American Religious History and Cultures, Emory University"WithMonsters in America, W. Scott Poole has given us a guidebook for a journey into nightmare territory. Insightful and brilliant!"--Jonathan Maberry,New York Timesbestselling author ofPatient ZeroandDead of Night"An unexpected guilty pleasure! Poole invites us into an important and enlightening, if disturbing, conversation about the very real monsters that inhabit the dark spaces of Americas past."--J. Gordon Melton, Director, Institute for the Study of American Religion"From 19th century sea serpents to our current obsession with vampires and zombies, ... Poole plots America's past through its fears in this intriguing ...sociocultural history."--Publishers Weekly"Poole ... has set the bar ridiculously high for any future research exploring the locus of historical and cultural studies, particularly as it pertains to the horrific. ...Monsters In Americachallenges, enlightens, and, quite honestly, frightens in its prescient view of American history, as well as the seeming ubiquity of the monsters of our past and probable future."--The Crawlspace"After readingMonsters in America, a reader will view monsters in a completely different light. No longer just something that goes bump in the night, Mr. Poole showcases that monsters have more meaning and shed more insight into society than one might have previously suspected. Well-written and engaging,Monsters in Americais a must-read for anyone fascinated by history or monsters or both."--That's What She Read"While we can never isolate all the elements contributing to our horror stories, Poole looks at the distinct soil that producedMonsters in America. He lurks in the forests and depths that gave rise to Moby Dick, the Headless Horseman and even Bigfoot. Writing from his faculty position at the College of Charleston, Poole locates many of our manias in racial fears and tensions.--Purple State of Mind"The story of monsters, Poole rightly observes, is actually the "underground history of the United States.... American monsters are born out of American history." Monsters reveal what simultaneously enthralls and repels us, whether it's leviathanesque sea monsters off the shores of 17th-century New England or Stephenie Meyer's puritanical, defanged Edward Cullen addressing contemporary America's split-personality longing for a supersexy Ozzie-and-Harriet family."--Jana Riess, Beliefnet"After readingMonsters in America, a reader will view monsters in a completely different light. No longer just something that goes bump in the night, Mr. Poole showcases that monsters have more meaning and shed more insight into society than one might have previously suspected. Well-written and engaging,Monsters in Americais a must-read for anyone fascinated by history or monsters or both."--That's What She Read"While we can never isolate all the elements contributing to our horror stories, Poole looks at the distinct soil that producedMonsters in America. He lurks in the forests and depths that gave rise to Moby Dick, the Headless Horseman and even Bigfoot. Writing from his faculty position at the College of Charleston, Poole locates many of our manias in racial fears and tensions.--Purple State of Mind"The story of monsters, Poole rightly observes, is actually the "underground history of the United States.... American monsters are born out of American history." Monsters reveal what simultaneously enthralls and repels us, whether it's leviathanesque sea monsters off the shores of 17th-century New England or Stephenie Meyer's puritanical, defanged Edward Cullen addressing contemporary America's split-personality longing for a supersexy Ozzie-and-Harriet family."--Jana Riess, Beliefnet