The history of the United States offers a chamber of horrors, with clergy transforming the Native American other into demonic beings, mad scientists turning state-funded laboratories into torture chambers, and the photographic revolution of the Victorian era turning toward a morbid fascination with the bodies of the dead and the creation of the category of 'gore.' uniquely brings together history and culture studies to expose the dark obsessions that have helped create our national identity. 335 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in. Asa Briggs, Kings attorney, establishes that the police have no fingerprint evidence. Author: W. Scott Poole Synopsis (Courtesy of Powell's Books ): "Monsters are not just fears of the individual psyche, historian Scott Poole explains, but are concoctions of the public imagination, reactions to cultural influences, social change, and historical events. From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. He states that he knows James King and Osvaldo Cruz, but only casually. Component 2: Summary. Loading interface - Goodreads Youve successfully purchased a group discount. The brother of Zeus and Poseidon, Hades rules the underworld, the realm of the dead, with his wife, Persephone. Component 3: Vocabulary. OBrien reminds jurors of reasonable doubt and states firmly that Steves guilt has not been proven. What is it that rumbles in the American unconscious that relates to the figures we see on the screen. We are led to believe that bloody movies portray the sinister seditions of social conservativismthe ultimate grim reaper. Continue to start your free trial. An interesting and accessible overview of the link between American history and the monsters that fascinate them. Everything from Communists, feminists, and foreigners to Candyman, Dracula, and The Exorcist are examined for the social attitudes to evil that they illuminate (and that we may believe, consciously or subconsciously). Fall 2022 Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! Sometimes it can end up there. It is super nasty, and blood ends up everywhere. In 2016, he wrote the Bram Stoker Finalist _In the Mountains of Madness: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Purchasing "Sick," published by Abrams/Amulet). Judging from the verbiage, Pooles sub-text for the American monster is conservative-Christian-white-heterosexual-Republican. Poole agrees telling us early and often You are the main character in this terror-filled little tale (xviii). Martin Luther King, Jr. His Prophetic Faith in 15 Quotes, Important Discipleship and Formation Books A Reading Guide Fall 2020, Frederick Buechner Books An Introductory Reading Guide. Monsters are here to stay. 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. Pooles book becomes a tired screed against those whose political-social viewpoints are antithetic to his own. 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. Excellent study of the machinery of monsters and their meaning Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! All rights reserved. religious texts and newspaper accounts of "satanic panics" into a highly readable analysis of the concept of the devil in American cultural history. Which one would you like to know more about and why? Just watch any local news program and you'll see what I mean. Insightful and brilliant! If one would like to get into the spirit of monster mania during Halloween, no better place to begin is with the books that generated monster madness: Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Island of Dr. Moreau. If you're looking for an introductory book to the subject, it's a great resource. Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Not only that, but Sandra Petrocelli, the State prosecutor, is a very good lawyer. Monster in America is a literature book by W. Scott Poole. Title and sub-title encouraged my interest in securing a copy of Monsters in America for review. There he teaches courses on monsters, pop culture, and American history. (The medical examiners evidence suggests that the shooter was probably right-handed.) Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the After a minute elapses from the time David, Billy and Brent enter the store, a man, Jeff Miller, a local townsperson, flies into the market, bloodied and frantic. Penn State folklorist Bill Ellis called the book "required reading for . $24.99 It is a frightening world we live in, yet the horrific things in our literature and culture play a vital part in helping us reach some understanding, and even some peace about them. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. [Pooles] book is sufficiently clear and engaging for general readers to enjoy and would make a worthwhile addition to undergraduate course in American history or culture. Willa Cather Short Stories Five Superb Stories to Read for FREE! (1 page) Students will compose a summary of the chapter, highlighting the key elements of Poole's text. Want 100 or more? Monster is a 1999 young adult novel by Walter Dean Myers. He compares himself with the other prisoners. For Professors: Exam Copies. (one code per order). Its not a salacious book, either. Christopher Columbus came to the Americas searching for gold, slaves, and monsters. Insightful and brilliant! You can find more scary stories from him on Twitter: @monstersamerica. Briggs establishes that the police had shown photos of King to Mrs. Henry before she picked him out of a lineup. See a complete Character List for Monster, as well as in-depth analysis of its most important characters. Dorothy Moore, a cousin of Kings, testifies that King was with her at the time of the robbery. Synopsis: From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. Steve spends his time making movies about himself, often with Jerrys help. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. I found it informative, fascinating, thought-provoking and well-written. I heard the author on Coast to Coast, and even though he had that dry, flat Midwestern accent (sort of like Margaret Hamilton in "The Wizard of Oz") I knew I had to get the book. Specifically, he discusses how the stories like "Pocahontas" and "The. This is an important book that Id recommend very highly. Five months later, Steve is again writing in his notebook. However, at times the overt political messages can be more aggressive than effective, the book frequently covers more breadth than depth, and I was left without a clear sense of how monsters in America (US, presumably, rather than hemispheric) differed from those in international nightmares--or how the globalization of monster culture influenced American culture. Get help and learn more about the design. (Gary Laderman, Professor of American Religious History and Cultures, Emory University), (J. Gordon Melton, Director, Institute for the Study of American Religion). An excellent study for any student of history or media but also fun and accessible for any fan of monsters and the movies. as uncivilized people and even believed them to be monsters. Contact us Historian W. Scott Poole distinguishes himself by focusing on the American context, providing a history told through the personified expressions of our anxieties and fears. Associated with war, cleverness, and wit, it is no surprise that she favors Odysseus. Steve testifies that he did not take part in the drugstore robbery or discuss it with anyone before it happened. The Theology of the Early Christians 10 Free Classics! Monster Chapter Summaries - eNotes.com (1 page) Students will compose a summary of the chapter, highlighting the key elements of Poole's text. 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. Steve is about to stand trial for felony homicide. Hes never less than canny on the pop culture angle: Dracula and Frankenstein are almost everywhere in the book, his insights into the fear of zombies are sharp, the comparison of Patrick Bateman and Dexter Morgan is inspired, and the analysis of fifties icons like Vampira and the Addams family are very good. When social conservatives oppose something, like - say -. Emily Dickinson Poems Seven of our Favorites! 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.Monsters are not just fears of the individual psyche, historian Scott Poole explains, but are concoctions of the public imagination, reactions to cultural influences, social change, and historical events. 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 societys fears but shapes actual historical behavior and becomes a cultural reminder of inhuman acts.. Pooles bibliography is an additional treat as it includes many excellent books for further reading or study - "1973 Nervous Breakdown: Watergate, Warhol, and the Birth of Post-Sixties America" and "Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen" were two titles that jumped out at me thats so full that one could even write their own treatment on the subject. Salem witches, frontier wilderness beasts, freak show oddities, alien invasions, Freddie Krueger. Good references in the book that I looked up to further read about horror movies and their importance to our sociological perspective. In a nutshell, monsters for Poole are metaphors / stand-ins for whoever is loathed or feared in a certain historical context. Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting, Review, Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Epigraph, Preface: With a Warning to the Unsuspecting Reader, Introduction: The Bloody Chords of Memory. Monster is told as a first-person account by Steve Harmon, a Black teenager on trial for felony murder in New York. Monsters in America argues that historical, political and social conditions produce narratives of horror and create "monsters." Choose one of the following periods 1.) 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? to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. Often fascinating attempt to look at monsters through the lens of American history, Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2011. Even fewer scholars do so as adeptly and as entertainingly as W. Scott Poole. 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. "New light" evangelists of the eighteenth century, enslaved African Americans, demagogic politicians, and modern American film-makers have used the devil to damn their enemies, explain the nature of evil and injustice, mount social crusades, construct a national identity, and express anxiety about matters as . He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Monsters in America is an important contribution, and it will be enjoyed by literary and cultural historians alike. His new book, forthcoming this fall and available for pre-order, is _Wasteland: The Great War and the Roots of Modern Horror_. Date. Hafez Poems Five of Our Favorites from the Divan of Hafez, N.T. 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. Briggs presents his defense of King. Monsters in America is an important contribution, and it will be enjoyed by literary and cultural historians alike. It looks like WhatsApp is not installed on your phone. From Victorian-era mad scientists to modern-day serial killers, new monsters appear as American society evolves, paralleling fluctuating challenges to the cultural status quo. I was pretty fascinated through this whole book. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! While Poole is an academic his book is anything but dry. Reprinted by permission. Purchasing Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2012. Monsters in America does a bang-up job of demonstrating how our culture helps us achieve some sort of understanding about our world and our lives. Monster presents through the obvious things, for example, krakens or werewolves. Poole's connection of the monster to American history is a kind of Creature Features meets American cultural history. You can view our. for a group? Its cohesive, cursory, and has a smattering of typos. Human beings made him declare "war" by treating him like an enemy. Monsters highlight both the positives and negatives in any society, and as such, require the reader to open ones mind and accept that the history taught in history books may not be the truth. Poole does justice to judgment; the focus of some horror films. You'll also receive an email with the link. A.Universal white male suffrage B.Public education C.Child labor D.Temperance. wish it felt more american- some of the trends were too broad, and I wish thered been more emphasis on early America (e.g. summary of monstrous beginnings.docx - |1 Aayush Gada WRTG Pooles excoriation of one homogenous grouping belies the essence of the problem which is our human nature. Societal values impact individuals only as much as we understand an individuals values. 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. There he teaches courses on monsters, pop culture, and American history. Separated by significant eras in American history, a reader gets a clear picture of how the definition of a monster changes depending on the cultural and political events of an era. W. Scott Poole is Professor of History at the College of Charleston.
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I hoped to expand my interaction in the genre, albeit from an American point of view. I often use this in my Freshman Writing courses to show that writing doesn't have to be boring. An excellent history of the American obsession with monsters, Poole analyzes our religious and nationalist beliefs to see how we have dealt with the Other in our long, horrifying existence as a nation. Satan in America tells the story of America's complicated relationship with the devil. SparkNotes PLUS Monster Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary Monster is usually used to reflect an individual's actions; especially, it shows for the wrong act of people. Subscribe now. Copyright 2023 That's What She Read. They are created to explain racism, cover up worse monstrosities and signal changes and the state of the nation at the time. Marilynne Robinson 10 Freely Available Essays! Twelve Important Theology Books of 2021!!! Poole states that, in actuality, that the Europeans saw the natives as uncivilized people and even believed them to be monsters. We can anticipate either alien salvation or judgment from beyond. Subscribe now. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Monsters in America does a bang-up job of demonstrating how our culture helps us achieve some sort of understanding about our world and our lives. Monsters in America (2nd ed.) 62 reviews Salem witches, frontier wilderness beasts, freak show oddities, alien invasions, Freddie Krueger. The book reflects on the. Poole argues that "Monstrous metaphors in American historical life have a way of becoming realthey are intertwined with attitudes and social structures that make the monster possible. Scholars will argue over interpretation because that is what scholars do. I used this as a textbook for a themed English course: Monsters, Myths, and Magic. Conflicting anxieties about race, class, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs, science, and politics manifest as haunting beings among the populace. Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, Project MUSE is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves. Monster is a 1999 young adult novel by Walter Dean Myers. White Doe" disguised the true relationship between the European settlers and Native Americans. I want to start out by saying that I absolutely love the notion behind this book. He wrote in his journal Imprint: Baylor University Press. Historian W. Scott Poole distinguishes himself by focusing on the American context, providing a history told through the personified expressions of our anxieties and fears. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. Satan in America: The Devil We Know by W. Scott Poole - Goodreads The kind of monsters depends on the era. Conflicting anxieties about race, class, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs, science, and politics manifest as haunting beings among the populace. Spring 2021 Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! Numerous scholars explore the cultural and political implications of monster and horror films for the times from which they emerge. Few scholars connect such implications across broader expanses of time to reveal how intrinsically monsters and the horrific have been bound up in the history of America. Scott Poole's Monsters in America Examines Our Fears - Dread Central Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2021. Paperback; 9781481308823; Published: July 2018; $34.99. Monsters in America: Steves lawyer, Kathy OBrien, urges Steve to take his situation seriously because this crime could put him in jail for twenty years or more. Monsters are not just fears of the individual psyche, historian Scott Poole explains, but are concoctions of the public imagination, reactions to cultural influences, social change, and historical events. Available
Anything outside the norm brought about the birth of a monster, which can differ depending on the social, economic, cultural, or political influences of the time. When, meeting the natives, he saw their way of life as barbaric and uncivilized. We've quickly looked at a wide variety of Native Cultures across the Americas. Monsters in America does a phenomenal job examining American history through the lens of monsters and the monstrous. OBrien gathers her papers and moves away, leaving Steve standing with outstretched arms. He wrote in his journal. Not only do they continue to live in our midst, but, as historian Scott Poole shows, these monsters are an important part of our pasta hideous obsession America cannot seem to escape. Free trial is available to new customers only. Picked up on a whim, I certainly got the expected analysis of horror movies as a way for Americans to understand and react to their culture, but the author also makes the (very strong and well supported) argument that far from being a way to understand the world around us, monsters are also used by those in power to crush those without under their heel while also ignoring and excusing the fact that they're doing so. Mr. Pooles evidence is as intriguing as it is informative. A monster, in most cases, is something that challenges human morality or customs, or rather, a single group of people's moralities. IE- minorities = what we are anxious about / obsessed with = the monstrous = monsters. Petrocelli, the State prosecutor, calls more witnesses to establish the facts of the crime. Mary Oliver Essays 10 Prose Selections to Read for Free Online! I. Poole is also a Professor of History at the College of Charleston where he teaches courses on monsters in American history, Satan in folk belief and pop culture and the history of religion and race in American life . In her closing argument for the State, Petrocelli stresses the importance of the stolen cigarettes in proving who committed the crime. Poole explains his parameters of a monsters nature from the outside, in: monsters are a product of our collective hatreds outside the human psyche. By so delimiting his interpretation, Poole mirrors his stated concern for other theories that monster interpretations are reductive and overdeterminative (13-18). Monsters and American History W. Scott Poole offers many unique explanations for the creation and story telling of monsters in his essayMonsters in America.Poole examines the cultural history of the monster and how it intersects with American history.