is lively and entertaining throughout. What is it that rumbles in the American unconscious that relates to the figures we see on the screen. . Jacques Ellul Books An Introductory Reading Guide. Monsters in America is W. Scott Poole's interpretive history. All opinions expressed are uniquely my own. Salem witches, frontier wilderness beasts, freak show oddities, alien invasions, Freddie Krueger. Fifteen Important Theology Books of 2022!!! Omer-Sherman, Ranen. Spring 2021 Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! 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). Twelve Important Theology Books of 2021!!! This book is a wonderful introduction to American history through the lens of monsters. In some ways, this felt more like a book about racism and sexism on celluloid and in politics than a book about "Monsters." Well-written and engaging,Monsters in Americais a must-read for anyone fascinated by history or monsters or both. The medical examiner states the time of Mr. Nesbitts death. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! Foregrounding the racism and injustice of the legal system, the novel is a crime story, a courtroom drama, and an account of a young teens search for identity. This book is really good, a look at our monsters in a social conceptional way. 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. While Poole is an academic his book is anything but dry. A monster, in most cases, is something that challenges human morality or customs, or rather, a single group of people's moralities. Monstrosities exist in us and therefore they are all around us. If it bleeds, it reads. Dont have an account? Mary Oliver Essays 10 Prose Selections to Read for Free Online! It is lively and engaging and well researched. I found the book interesting and informative, it's brief but gives you just enough to perhaps to look further on your own. Here we not only meet such monsters but also discover America's cultural monstrosity. Novelist Sheri Holman calls the book "a subversive masterpiece.". SparkNotes PLUS But a third interpretive option exists. Subscribe now. Monsters in America instead should acknowledge monsters exist in every culture, every tribe, every era. You can find more scary stories from him on Twitter: @monstersamerica. Please provide specific examples to support your answers. Through the two and a half weeks I took with this book, I have been citing it in conversation. (Christopher James Blythe, Florida State University, (John W. Morehead, editor, www.TheoFantastique.com). Marshall1 Jenna Marshall Prof. Goff Writing 1010 12 September 2021 Summary Final In Scott Poole's essay Monsters in America Poole's main claim is that stories of monsters are associated with the troubled history of American history of racism, politics, class prejudice, gender disparity, and how society's fears can be equally showing of our divides. Here's where you'll find important quotesfrom Monsterand explanations of them. 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. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. The tendency to view American monsters as primarily psychological archetypes ignores how closely they have reflected actual historical events and actual historical victims.". Trick-or-treat! can only mean one thingHalloween. This was a great concept, but I struggled to even make it through the introduction. Newer movies like "Terminator," shows what happens when we place our trust in machines. Copyright 2023 That's What She Read. There was a problem loading your book clubs. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Scholars will argue over interpretation because that is what scholars do. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. Hardback: Baylor University Press, 2011. Bolden testifies that he bought cigarettes from Bobo Evans and that Evans told him about the robbery. A.The James River B.The, Which was NOT an attempted reform movement in antebellum Virginia? Call me crazy, but I don't think a historian's role ought to be the reaffirmation of modern feelings of superiority over everyone else who has ever lived. We are sorry. Steve calls the movie Monster because that is what the prosecutor has called him. Steve tells his story through handwritten notes as in a journal and a typewritten screenplay. serial killers, each generation faced its own challenges and highlighted its fear within its own monsters. Monsters are here to stay. 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. Continue to start your free trial. 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. It's also a great way of introducing the idea that you can use different lenses/ways of writing to introduce and discuss topics. , Poole has now turned his attention to the monsters that inhabit American cinema and American imaginations. These summaries should not . Fall 2021 Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! Title and sub-title encouraged my interest in securing a copy of Monsters in America for review. 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. incredibly rewarding and fulfilling reading. Monsters in America has without a doubt earned a spot on my favorite books of 2011. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. 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. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Wed love to have you back! Ten Important Women Theologians To Start Reading. Pooles excoriation of one homogenous grouping belies the essence of the problem which is our human nature. For Poole Halloween means more trick than treat; we discover that the monsters are us. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. IE- minorities = what we are anxious about / obsessed with = the monstrous = monsters. 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. Petrocelli, the State prosecutor, calls more witnesses to establish the facts of the crime. Edna St. Vincent Millay Five of our Favorite Poems ! I took copious notes in the margins, and will be using this book frequently as I continue to work on my own YA horror fiction (e.g. All rights reserved. Suppose someone wanted to trace American history through the common coffee cup. Instead of representing the "us vs them" mentality, monsters are much closer so home: they are us. 20% From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. John Wesley Sermons - The 7 Best Sermons from the Founder of Methodism. Academic, yet very accessible, I was fascinated by this book, and it holds a very special distinction as the only book I was required to buy for a college class that has earned a permanent place on my bookshelf now that the class is over. Buy now: [ Amazon ] [ Kindle ]. In a nutshell, monsters for Poole are metaphors / stand-ins for whoever is loathed or feared in a certain historical context. Lewis Biography (And Other Biographies /Companion Guides)! The evidence that Poole provides . damn good primer on monsters in America. 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.. 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. 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. Best Leonard Cohen Books Biographies and Books by the Songwriter. 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. 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. Judging from the verbiage, Pooles sub-text for the American monster is conservative-Christian-white-heterosexual-Republican. 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. View all The little monsters who come to our doors for candy at Halloween are small reminders of our large problem. Monster is told as a first-person account by Steve Harmon, a Black teenager on trial for felony murder in New York. She tells the jury that James King and Steve Harmon, along with two other criminals, robbed a drugstore. Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon, Baylor University Press (January 15, 2014). Indeed, Poole interprets the meaning of the meaning, reinterpreting historical narratives infusing past story with present perception: history is horror (22). Want 100 or more? Even fewer scholars do so as adeptly and as entertainingly as W. Scott Poole. OBrien tells Steve he will have to testify on his own behalf and put some distance between himself and King. Would that Poole could have written a chapter on one of the liberal American horror shows: 50 million babies slaughtered through this countrys abortion industry. Here's where you'll find analysis of the main themes, motifs, and symbols in Monster. Marilynne Robinson 10 Freely Available Essays! 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. Insightful and brilliant! 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. InMonsters in America,Scott Poole asks these thought-provoking questions while traveling through American history following the evolution of the monster over time.