March 4, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 The different types of monsters, whether cultural, supernatural, or moral, all contribute to the meaning of American culture. Best Johnny Cash Books Biographies and More! Ten Important Women Theologians To Start Reading. 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 America challenges, 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. I have an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Powells Books and IndieBound. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! Friedrich Nietzsche believed we are the monsters. I would love something like this for the UK. Author W. Scott Poole takes a look at America's fascination with the macabre in his book. Monsters in America has without a doubt earned a spot on my favorite books of 2011. They are created to explain racism, cover up worse monstrosities and signal changes and the state of the nation at the time. From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. Monsters are here to stay. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Simplistic and not incredibly thoughtful, but useful for my purposes, Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2012. Dont have an account? From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Whats worse is how these monster images exist even until today. More importantly, what is the definition of a monster? Not only is it written in a fun, easy to relate to voice, but it is also chock full of info. wish it felt more american- some of the trends were too broad, and I wish thered been more emphasis on early America (e.g. It is lively and engaging and well researched. Subject I have a lot of interest in and the author seems to have done a lot of work/research. Instead of representing the "us vs them" mentality, monsters are much closer so home: they are us. The pages are littered with characterizations which demonize only a conservative set of ideas. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. If you've got an interest in horror, this is definitely worth a read. Monsters in America: From 19th century sea serpents to our current. Monsters refuse to be cordoned off in only one nationality, ethnicity, religion, or political mindset. A must read for fans of horror and monsters! I do wish the author would've delved into certain subjects more as he did the last half of the book which was very compelling. FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Contact us The little monsters who come to our doors for candy at Halloween are small reminders of our large problem. It's organized well also: a chapter on one specific type of monster and era makes for a really focused and easy to digest historical examination. uniquely brings together history and culture studies to expose the dark obsessions that have helped create our national identity. Please wait while we process your payment. He is the author of several books, including a biography of H.P Lovecraft, which became a Bram Stoker award finalist, and Wasteland: The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror. Monsters in America is lively and entertaining throughout. We can anticipate either alien salvation or judgment from beyond. That being said, however, if you are a teacher who needs to get a class full of barely literate college freshmen to understand what it means to read / think about things in historical context, Poole's introduction, "The Bloody chords of Memory," is readable and accessible even for a group of resistant and vaguely engaged (at best) 18 year olds. I am fiercely passionate about two things: History and Monsters. Purchasing Why are we scared of this person? is always a question behind each chapter and Poole is careful to never reduce it purely to matters of sociology or psychology while still using those tools of analysis. Browning's research, including extensive field work in New Orleans, has uncovered a subculture of . Monsters in America is an important contribution, and it will be enjoyed by literary and cultural historians alike. for a customized plan. The new edition extends this analysis to shed light on some of the darker developments in recent American political culture. Indeed, the reader may struggle as I did with the leaps Poole makes between monster movies and American social ills. From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. What would be made of the differences of the heavy, utilitarian coffee cups of the 1940s compared to the cups featuring Gary Larson cartoons so popular in the 1990s? Youve successfully purchased a group discount. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. His footnotes have left me with a massive pile Poole walks readers through the American history of monsters, matching horror trends to American epochs, where it turns out our sociopolitical climate influences the monsters we laud and follow in fiction, film, and the media. The book is rich in history, pop culture references, and analysis. 20% Indians, the physically disabled, African-Americans, deep-sea animals or mammals, science is a powerful motivator and caused society to vilify those that do not fit the acceptable mold. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! Salem witches, frontier wilderness beasts, freak show oddities, alien invasions, Freddie Krueger. A masterful survey of our grim and often disturbing past, Monsters in America uniquely brings together history and culture studies to expose the dark obsessions that have helped create our national identity. Dont have an account? Consulting newspaper accounts, archival materials, personal papers, comic books, films, and oral histories, Poole adroitly illustrates how the creation of the monstrous"other"not only reflects society's fears but shapes actual historical behavior and becomes a cultural reminder of inhuman acts.Monsters in America is now online at www.monstersinamerica.com. Not only is it written in a fun, easy to relate to voice, but it is also chock full of info. Poole offers an insight on America's fascination with monsters. Scholars will argue over interpretation because that is what scholars do. All rights reserved. Vampira) to explore the history of American sexuality, gender relations and the rebirth of the horror film in post-WW2 America. The fear of anything not considered normal or not well-understood e.g. But honestly, most folks go to horror films for what they would say is the hell of it. Some people enjoy being scared, period. These monsters are created by multiple aspects of society and give meaning to the culture as well. Victor sees the monster's point of view and agrees to create a mate for the monster. Poole's examples are well-chosen and well-explicated. You can find more scary stories from him on Twitter: @monstersamerica. It is not just about film and fiction, but the cultural events that mirrored the works on the screen and in our nightmares. incredibly rewarding and fulfilling reading. Monsters in America has without a doubt earned a spot on my favorite books of 2011. Sometimes it can end up there. I found it to be a perfect model for critical thinking about the social representations of various popular monsters, and the book led to wonderful class discussions. Finally, in the new section "American Carnage," Poole challenges readers to assess what their own monster tales might be and how our sordid past horrors express themselves in our present cultural anxieties. Amazon has encountered an error. (1 page) Students will compose a summary of the chapter, highlighting the key elements of Poole's text. You can find more scary stories from him on Twitter: @monstersamerica. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Through the two and a half weeks I took with this book, I have been citing it in conversation. Christopher Columbus came to the Americas searching for gold, slaves, and monsters. This well-written and thought provoking book examines what scares us and what monsters in popular entertainment have to say about our fears and values in society. Just about all the scarey things that crawl into popular media hail from the leaf-littered shadowy forests that haunt the American mind. Whether your interest is literature, American history, popular culture, race and ethnicity, women's studies, or religion, you would be happy reading this book. Conflicting anxieties about race, class, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs, science, and politics manifest as haunting beings among the populace. But then, I dislike any historical book that loses its sense of historical relativity as well as any book about phenomena that automatically assumes a phenomenon is false and therefore ripe for being disproved and easily rationalized away. Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com, "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities. The book's unusual range is one of its contributions; its freshness of juxtaposition is another. But a third interpretive option exists. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Poole stays far away from polemic and sticks to the facts. Briggs presents his defense of King. The jail guards come in, and everyone lines up against the wall while they get rubber-gloved. Steve writes about his fear, anger, and pain and his rising sense of panic about the outcome of his trial. is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Stamped on American culture, the phrase brings to mind images of costumes, plastic masks, and parents holding the hands of little monsters as they collect candy calories. The book won the John Cawelti prize from the Popular Culture Association for the best book published in pop culture history for 2011. This was a great concept, but I struggled to even make it through the introduction. I loved this book. As W. Scott Poole's text will serve as the conceptual framework for the course, this assignment seeks to promote regular critical engagement with the text. You can find more scary stories from him on Twitter: @monstersamerica. Please provide specific examples to support your answers. Well-researched and insightful, the writing of the text is also energetic and engaging. While I appreciate and agree with his argument that monsters are "real" because their effects on history / on people's lives have been real, I dislike his assumption that people in the past were the obvious victims of prejudice and misplaced fear and that they were not insightful or intelligent enough to realize what they were truly afraid of. Component 3: Vocabulary. Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon, Baylor University Press (January 15, 2014). Steve tells his story through handwritten notes as in a journal and a typewritten screenplay. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2012. Analysis The monster tells Victor:"You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being." Victor refuses and then later relents to the monster's wishes. Another problem for Steve is that James King, a young Black hood, is Steves co-defendant. Conflicting anxieties about race, class, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs, science, and politics manifest as haunting beings among the populace.
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monsters in america sparknotes