Halloween
Subtitle: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: October 31, 2002
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780195146912
First sentence: In 1998, my partner and I decided to leave the tricksters at our door and venture downtown to the gay quarter of Toronto.
Description: "Drawing on an array of sources, from classical history to Hollywood films, Rogers traces Halloween as it emerged from the Celtic festival of Samhain (summer's end), picked up elements of the Christian Hallowtide (All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day), arrived in North America as an Irish and Scottish festival, and evolved into an unofficial but large-scale holiday by the early 20th century.

He examines the 1970s and '80s phenomena of Halloween sadism (razor blades in apples) and inner-city violence (arson in Detroit), as well as the immense influence of the horror film genre on the reinvention of Halloween as a terror-fest. Throughout his vivid account, Rogers shows how Halloween remains, at its core, a night of inversion, when social norms are turned upside down and a temporary freedom of expression reigns supreme.

He examines how this very license has prompted censure by the religious Right, occasional outrage from law enforcement officials, and appropriation by Left-leaning political groups."--BOOK JACKET.