Author/Historian Scott Poole Taking Monsters in America on the Road

Steve Barton   |  

Oct 15, 2011

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Starting on Tuesday, October 18th, Scott Poole will be taking his new book Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and Haunting on the road to nine Eastern US cities, including a four-day stint in Chicago. Read on to see if your town is on the list!

October 18, 2011 – Chicago, IL – 6:00 PM
“In Conversation: W. Scott Poole and Stephen Asma”
57th Street Books
1301 E. 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637-1507
773-684-1300

October 20, 2011 – Chicago, IL – Time TBA
Jesus People USA
Classic Horror Film Screening of Freaks & Discussion
Jesus People USA
920 W Wilson Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640-5707

October 21, 2011 – Chicago, IL – Time TBA
Music Box Theatre
Horror Movie Marathon Appearance
Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613

October 22, 2011 – Chicago, IL – Time TBA
Horrorbles
6729 West Roosevelt Road
Berwyn, IL 60402
708-484-7370

Ocotber 25, 2011 – Greenville, SC – 4:00 PM
Book Signing @ Fiction Addiction
1020A Woodruff Road
Greenville, SC 29607
864-675-0540 or e-mail

October 26, 2011 – Spartanburg, SC – 6:00 PM
Talk & Book Signing @ Hub City Bookshop
186 West Main Street
Spartanburg, SC 29306
864-577-9349

October 27, 2011 – Alpharetta, GA – 6:00 PM
Book Talk & Signing @ Peerless Book Store
8465 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 120
Alpharetta, GA 30022
770-650-7323

October 28, 2011 – Decatur, GA – 7:00 PM
Interview with Scott Poole and Book Signing @ Eagle Eye Book Shop
2076 N. Decatur Road
Decatur, GA 30033
404-486-0307

October 29, 2011 – Augusta, GA – 1:00–3:00 PM
Mid-Day Meet & Greet @ The Book Tavern
1026 Broad Street
Augusta, GA 30901
706-826-1940

November 16, 2011 – Charleston, SC – 6:30 PM
“Monster Party”: A Reading, Signing and Art Show featuring Scott Poole and graphic artist Tami Boyce
Charleston Public Library — Main Branch
68 Calhoun Street
Charleston, SC 29401
843-805-6930

November 18, 2011 – Cambridge, MA – 3:00 PM
Authors@Google Talk and Book Signing
5 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142

February 10, 2012 – Asheville, NC – 7:00 PM
Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe
55 Haywood St.
Asheville, NC 28801
828-254-6734

For more info visit the official Monsters in America website as well as Monsters in America and Scott Poole on Facebook. Also follow Scott Poole (@monstersamerica) on Twitter.

Synopsis:
Witches and night creatures that terrified the Puritans. Demonic rites and horrible shapes from beyond the grave that lived in the shadows of Southern plantations. After World War II visitors from other worlds threatened apocalypse. In the 1980s murderous maniacs hunted Americans on quiet suburban streets and even at summer camp. And today worse things may be waiting. This is the history of America … one fear … one monster at a time.

From our colonial past to the present, the monster in all its various forms has been a staple of American culture. 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. Conflicting anxieties about race, class, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs, science, and politics manifest as haunting beings among the populace. 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.

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.