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American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography (2024)From the acclaimed author of American Comics and Jewish Comedy comes a sweeping and entertaining narrative that details the rise and enduring grip of horror in American literature, cinema, and, ultimately, culture—from the taut, terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe to the grisly, lingering films of Jordan Peele
America is held captive by horror stories. They flicker on the screen of a darkened movie theater and are shared around the campfire. They blare out in tabloid true-crime headlines, and in the worried voices of local news anchors. They are consumed, virally, on the phones in each of our pockets. Like the victims in any slasher worth its salt, we can’t escape the thrall of scary stories.
In American Scary, noted cultural historian and Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber takes the reader to the startling origins of the horror genre in the United States, drawing a surprising through-line between the lingering influence of the European Gothic, the enslaved insurrection tales propagated by slaveholders, and the apocryphal chronicles of colonial settlers kidnapped by Native Americans, among many others.
These foundational narratives give rise to and are influenced by the body of work we more closely associate with the weird fiction of HP Lovecraft, the lingering stories of Shirley Jackson, the unsettling films of Alfred Hitchcock, the up-all-night tales of Stephen King, and the gripping critiques of Jordan Peele. From “The Tell-Tale Heart” to M3gan, we begin to see why the horror genre is the perfect prism through which to view America’s past and present.
With the extraordinary historical breadth and dexterous weave of insight and style that has made him twice a finalist for the National Jewish Book, Dauber makes the haunting case that horror reveals the true depths of the American mind.
Featuring cameos
Shirley Jackson • The Sixth Sense • Edgar Allan Poe • Nathaniel Hawthorne • Anne Radcliffe • Charles Brockden Brown • Los Espookys • Washington Irving • Nat Turner • Night of the Living Dead • H.P. Lovecraft • Alien • Mary Heaton Vorse • Edith Wharton • Norman Bates • Lon Chaney • Frankenstein • Dracula • H.G. Wells • William Faulkner • Dashiell Hammett • Tananarive Due • Twilight Zone • The Handmaid’s Tale • Ray Bradbury • I Am Legend • Elia Kazan • Psycho • Ralph Ellison • The Blair Witch Project • Stanley Kubrick • Helter Skelter • Jordan Peele • The Walking Dead • H.H. Holmes • Harriet Beecher Stowe
America is held captive by horror stories. They flicker on the screen of a darkened movie theater and are shared around the campfire. They blare out in tabloid true-crime headlines, and in the worried voices of local news anchors. They are consumed, virally, on the phones in each of our pockets. Like the victims in any slasher worth its salt, we can’t escape the thrall of scary stories.
In American Scary, noted cultural historian and Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber takes the reader to the startling origins of the horror genre in the United States, drawing a surprising through-line between the lingering influence of the European Gothic, the enslaved insurrection tales propagated by slaveholders, and the apocryphal chronicles of colonial settlers kidnapped by Native Americans, among many others.
These foundational narratives give rise to and are influenced by the body of work we more closely associate with the weird fiction of HP Lovecraft, the lingering stories of Shirley Jackson, the unsettling films of Alfred Hitchcock, the up-all-night tales of Stephen King, and the gripping critiques of Jordan Peele. From “The Tell-Tale Heart” to M3gan, we begin to see why the horror genre is the perfect prism through which to view America’s past and present.
With the extraordinary historical breadth and dexterous weave of insight and style that has made him twice a finalist for the National Jewish Book, Dauber makes the haunting case that horror reveals the true depths of the American mind.
Featuring cameos
Shirley Jackson • The Sixth Sense • Edgar Allan Poe • Nathaniel Hawthorne • Anne Radcliffe • Charles Brockden Brown • Los Espookys • Washington Irving • Nat Turner • Night of the Living Dead • H.P. Lovecraft • Alien • Mary Heaton Vorse • Edith Wharton • Norman Bates • Lon Chaney • Frankenstein • Dracula • H.G. Wells • William Faulkner • Dashiell Hammett • Tananarive Due • Twilight Zone • The Handmaid’s Tale • Ray Bradbury • I Am Legend • Elia Kazan • Psycho • Ralph Ellison • The Blair Witch Project • Stanley Kubrick • Helter Skelter • Jordan Peele • The Walking Dead • H.H. Holmes • Harriet Beecher Stowe
17 pages, Audiobook
First published October 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 212 reviews
October 26, 2024
“Almost every creator of horror – almost every horror fan – has been asked this question…Why is it that you’re interested in this stuff in the first place? Isn’t the world scary enough, out there? Why do you need to be scared more? And the answer, the answer that we all have, I suspect, is: of course. Of course it’s scary out there. It’s too scary. Much scarier than fiction, in fact. And so…you take the scary stuff and you put it into a form that you can control; and you aestheticize and count out its beats and rhythms and you scream and you close the book or leave the theater or turn off the television and your heart returns to its normal rhythm and you feel a little better. For a while…”
- Jeremy Dauber, American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond
Every spooky season, I try to find the right horror novel to properly channel the generalized anxieties of my daily life. Typically, I struggle, because I don’t really know what I’m looking for, especially since it’s a genre I only really visit one time a year. Jeremy Dauber’s American Scary seemed an elegant solution. Instead of picking one or two titles, I’d enjoy a survey of a huge swath of terror, encompassing not only novels, but poetry, film, and television.
Unfortunately, even though American Scary is intermittently entertaining – and full of great recommendations – it doesn’t work nearly as well as it should. It tries to cover way too much, way too fast, and ends up being far more exhausting than enlightening, and scary only to the extent of its sentence structure.
***
The premise of American Scary is that we use fictional horror as a catharsis for the very real fears that permeate our everyday existence. This is not exactly groundbreaking stuff. Dauber, though, explores the therapeutic nature of horror through the prism of American history, using events such as slavery, westward expansion, and war as his framework. He discusses how fiction reflected those violent experiences, while also commenting upon it for contemporary readers or viewers.
As ideas go, it’s not a bad one. The issue is in how it is presented: dizzily, with no apparent method.
***
It’s hard to fault Dauber’s ambition. The subtitle promises a journey stretching “from Salem to Stephen King,” and this is accurate. He begins with the Puritans, who used captivity narratives to reconcile their fear of Indian warfare with God’s supposed grace, and ends in the present day, with horror working overtime to keep up with the disasters that seem to unfold on a daily basis. In between, there’s over three-hundred years of bad happenings to digest and interpret, which is an awful lot of material for a book just over four-hundred pages long.
Instead of winnowing the mass down to the best examples fitting his thesis, Dauber seemingly tries to namecheck everything. The pace is breathless, as he jumps from one thing to the next. Sometimes, it felt like he was simply listing titles, a weird flex to let us know how much he has consumed. Every once in a while, he will slow down, and actually focus on one thing for a couple of paragraphs. This is when American Scary works best. For the most part, though, Dauber just races along. As a consequence, if you don’t happen to already know the specific bit of media that he is examining – the plot of the movie or book or play – then it’s hard to derive much meaning out of what Dauber is saying about it.
***
Even when Dauber makes his points perfectly clear, they are not exactly mind-expanding. He is a professor at Columbia University, and apparently drew from his own popular class when writing American Scary. This checks out, because it often feels like a lecture, one given in near stream-of-conscience by a smart, voluble individual. However, it can also feel like Dauber is talking down, as he might to a bunch of eighteen-year-olds.
In particular, Dauber acts as though no one reading his book knows anything at all about the dark side of American history. As a result, he keeps reminding us of this darkness over, and over, and over again, in ways that are intrusive and somewhat condescending. For example, he spends an entire page on the Declaration of Independence, as though its hypocrisies have remained hidden until now. Lumping this document into the category of “horror” is certainly provocative, but he makes no effort to backfill this attention-getter with anything resembling insight.
Breadth and depth are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but it’s hard to have both. Here, there’s breadth all right. It’s the depth – the details, the concentration, the forming of full thought-arcs – that is missing. To be sure, there is pleasure to be had in the summaries and generalities, but it gave me no lasting impression.
***
Dauber’s writing style also drove me to distraction. There are precious few simple, elegant statements in American Scary. Rather, Dauber lards his sentences with commas, elongates them with semicolons, sets them off with dashes, and garnishes the whole with modifiers. I have never seen so many colons before in my life. It made me feel like a gastroenterologist.
This cluttery execution clashes badly with the speed with which Dauber moves; he wants you to sprint along with him, while simultaneously tripping you with knotted prose that often requires a second read-through.
***
Expectations are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they inspired me to snap this up in hardcover, paying close to the cover price. On the other, it made for a longer fall when I realized – by the second or third page – that they were not going to be fulfilled. I don’t want to sound too harsh, since this is an inoffensive volume, but American Scary felt rather shallow, a mere scratching of the surface. There’s nothing here that wasn’t done better in – for instance – Eli Roth’s History of Horror, which really explored how issues of race and sexuality have played out in frightening films. Horror has a lot to say about our world. Regrettably, Dauber does not say a lot about horror that isn’t readily apparent.
- Jeremy Dauber, American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond
Every spooky season, I try to find the right horror novel to properly channel the generalized anxieties of my daily life. Typically, I struggle, because I don’t really know what I’m looking for, especially since it’s a genre I only really visit one time a year. Jeremy Dauber’s American Scary seemed an elegant solution. Instead of picking one or two titles, I’d enjoy a survey of a huge swath of terror, encompassing not only novels, but poetry, film, and television.
Unfortunately, even though American Scary is intermittently entertaining – and full of great recommendations – it doesn’t work nearly as well as it should. It tries to cover way too much, way too fast, and ends up being far more exhausting than enlightening, and scary only to the extent of its sentence structure.
***
The premise of American Scary is that we use fictional horror as a catharsis for the very real fears that permeate our everyday existence. This is not exactly groundbreaking stuff. Dauber, though, explores the therapeutic nature of horror through the prism of American history, using events such as slavery, westward expansion, and war as his framework. He discusses how fiction reflected those violent experiences, while also commenting upon it for contemporary readers or viewers.
As ideas go, it’s not a bad one. The issue is in how it is presented: dizzily, with no apparent method.
***
It’s hard to fault Dauber’s ambition. The subtitle promises a journey stretching “from Salem to Stephen King,” and this is accurate. He begins with the Puritans, who used captivity narratives to reconcile their fear of Indian warfare with God’s supposed grace, and ends in the present day, with horror working overtime to keep up with the disasters that seem to unfold on a daily basis. In between, there’s over three-hundred years of bad happenings to digest and interpret, which is an awful lot of material for a book just over four-hundred pages long.
Instead of winnowing the mass down to the best examples fitting his thesis, Dauber seemingly tries to namecheck everything. The pace is breathless, as he jumps from one thing to the next. Sometimes, it felt like he was simply listing titles, a weird flex to let us know how much he has consumed. Every once in a while, he will slow down, and actually focus on one thing for a couple of paragraphs. This is when American Scary works best. For the most part, though, Dauber just races along. As a consequence, if you don’t happen to already know the specific bit of media that he is examining – the plot of the movie or book or play – then it’s hard to derive much meaning out of what Dauber is saying about it.
***
Even when Dauber makes his points perfectly clear, they are not exactly mind-expanding. He is a professor at Columbia University, and apparently drew from his own popular class when writing American Scary. This checks out, because it often feels like a lecture, one given in near stream-of-conscience by a smart, voluble individual. However, it can also feel like Dauber is talking down, as he might to a bunch of eighteen-year-olds.
In particular, Dauber acts as though no one reading his book knows anything at all about the dark side of American history. As a result, he keeps reminding us of this darkness over, and over, and over again, in ways that are intrusive and somewhat condescending. For example, he spends an entire page on the Declaration of Independence, as though its hypocrisies have remained hidden until now. Lumping this document into the category of “horror” is certainly provocative, but he makes no effort to backfill this attention-getter with anything resembling insight.
Breadth and depth are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but it’s hard to have both. Here, there’s breadth all right. It’s the depth – the details, the concentration, the forming of full thought-arcs – that is missing. To be sure, there is pleasure to be had in the summaries and generalities, but it gave me no lasting impression.
***
Dauber’s writing style also drove me to distraction. There are precious few simple, elegant statements in American Scary. Rather, Dauber lards his sentences with commas, elongates them with semicolons, sets them off with dashes, and garnishes the whole with modifiers. I have never seen so many colons before in my life. It made me feel like a gastroenterologist.
This cluttery execution clashes badly with the speed with which Dauber moves; he wants you to sprint along with him, while simultaneously tripping you with knotted prose that often requires a second read-through.
***
Expectations are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they inspired me to snap this up in hardcover, paying close to the cover price. On the other, it made for a longer fall when I realized – by the second or third page – that they were not going to be fulfilled. I don’t want to sound too harsh, since this is an inoffensive volume, but American Scary felt rather shallow, a mere scratching of the surface. There’s nothing here that wasn’t done better in – for instance – Eli Roth’s History of Horror, which really explored how issues of race and sexuality have played out in frightening films. Horror has a lot to say about our world. Regrettably, Dauber does not say a lot about horror that isn’t readily apparent.
March 5, 2025
ARC for review. To be published October 1, 2024 (just in time to be your Halloween read!)
Exhaustive, occasionally exhausting, but, ultimately, a winner this book looks at the history of horror (in media/entertainment, not in, like a psychological sense, exactly, but, well, I don’t know, a little?) in the United States from colonial times to the present. So that is a lot to cover. A LOT.
I learned some small bits of history that I didn’t know, including a story about the execution of a slave that is never, ever going to leave my mind. And the state of Florida (and other states) think we need LESS of that history. No, my friends, the only way to be sure that these things don’t happen again is to make sure we TEACH things like this. A digression, but I grew up in the South, attended public schools, went to a good college, have a law degree from a top twenty school. Know when I learned about the Tulsa Massacre? WHEN I WENT TO TULSA. In my forties. But I would have read about it here, so there’s that.
I won’t lie, early on this was a bit of a slog for me; I felt like I was reading a textbook and it felt like more history than discussion of horror. I kept rewarding myself every time I would get through another ten pages. Ten pages. But things really picked up once we reached the 20th century.
The book seems incredibly thorough to me, covering literature, film, TV, radio and computer games (although gamers might disagree.) Some might quibble and say, “Well, what about H. Lutegrass Hobble and his seminal 1914 tale “They Came in Through the Outhouse Slats?”” but I’m not a scholar like that. I couldn’t think of one thing I thought would be included that wasn’t.
The author notes that, overall, Americans, like people all over the world, are afraid of the unknown, but that Americans are also fearful of people who are different from them, the “other,” and they are particularly afraid when they see that class of “others” undergoing a change. So, men were always afraid of women, but when women started to gain more autonomy that fear became heightened. The public was always fearful of Black people but when the slaves were emancipated and when civil rights legislation took hold those fears were enhanced, and in and on, forever and ever, world without end.
If you love horror, really really love it, and this sounds interesting to you, you probably won’t be sorry you read it. It’s not for everyone, but it’s really well done.
Exhaustive, occasionally exhausting, but, ultimately, a winner this book looks at the history of horror (in media/entertainment, not in, like a psychological sense, exactly, but, well, I don’t know, a little?) in the United States from colonial times to the present. So that is a lot to cover. A LOT.
I learned some small bits of history that I didn’t know, including a story about the execution of a slave that is never, ever going to leave my mind. And the state of Florida (and other states) think we need LESS of that history. No, my friends, the only way to be sure that these things don’t happen again is to make sure we TEACH things like this. A digression, but I grew up in the South, attended public schools, went to a good college, have a law degree from a top twenty school. Know when I learned about the Tulsa Massacre? WHEN I WENT TO TULSA. In my forties. But I would have read about it here, so there’s that.
I won’t lie, early on this was a bit of a slog for me; I felt like I was reading a textbook and it felt like more history than discussion of horror. I kept rewarding myself every time I would get through another ten pages. Ten pages. But things really picked up once we reached the 20th century.
The book seems incredibly thorough to me, covering literature, film, TV, radio and computer games (although gamers might disagree.) Some might quibble and say, “Well, what about H. Lutegrass Hobble and his seminal 1914 tale “They Came in Through the Outhouse Slats?”” but I’m not a scholar like that. I couldn’t think of one thing I thought would be included that wasn’t.
The author notes that, overall, Americans, like people all over the world, are afraid of the unknown, but that Americans are also fearful of people who are different from them, the “other,” and they are particularly afraid when they see that class of “others” undergoing a change. So, men were always afraid of women, but when women started to gain more autonomy that fear became heightened. The public was always fearful of Black people but when the slaves were emancipated and when civil rights legislation took hold those fears were enhanced, and in and on, forever and ever, world without end.
If you love horror, really really love it, and this sounds interesting to you, you probably won’t be sorry you read it. It’s not for everyone, but it’s really well done.
March 17, 2025
"Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative."
American Scary was not what I expected at all. I went in expecting a simple history of Horror media but this book was much more thought-provoking than I expected. American Scary explored not just Horror media but the real life horrors that often inspired that media. From slavery to Covid, what is happening in real life inspires the best Horror and sometimes it even predicts future horrors.
I thought American Scary would be a light hearted read but it thankfully had way more heft to it.
I highly recommend American Scary to Horror lovers who also love History and Media analysis.
American Scary was not what I expected at all. I went in expecting a simple history of Horror media but this book was much more thought-provoking than I expected. American Scary explored not just Horror media but the real life horrors that often inspired that media. From slavery to Covid, what is happening in real life inspires the best Horror and sometimes it even predicts future horrors.
I thought American Scary would be a light hearted read but it thankfully had way more heft to it.
I highly recommend American Scary to Horror lovers who also love History and Media analysis.
August 24, 2024
AMERICAN SCARY
BY JEREMY DAUBER
An exhaustive history of horror by talented Jeremy Dauber that answers the question, “What scares the crap out of us”.
This book explores historical perspectives that touch an array of media from Hollywood to literature, Lovecraft to Hitchcock, and so much more.
I really enjoyed learning so much about this subject as a consumer of scary in media and books.
Fantastic
BY JEREMY DAUBER
An exhaustive history of horror by talented Jeremy Dauber that answers the question, “What scares the crap out of us”.
This book explores historical perspectives that touch an array of media from Hollywood to literature, Lovecraft to Hitchcock, and so much more.
I really enjoyed learning so much about this subject as a consumer of scary in media and books.
Fantastic
November 25, 2024
To research this history, it is apparent the author read tons of books and watched a veritable plethora of movies, and it certainly seems that he wanted to be sure to mention each and every one of them. As a result, the book moves from source to source without spending enough time on any of them to help support his themes. This was a similar problem with the author's previous book on comics. Much of this material was covered in a far more entertaining fashion in Stephen King's Danse Macabre, and that came out more than 40 years ago.
October 19, 2024
Honestly I was hopeful in the beginning and then super disappointed by this book. It felt like just a reiteration of every horror story in America which I guess could be interesting to some people but I was hoping he would actually synthesize why any of that matters to what we think about horror and it just didn’t get there for me.
July 22, 2024
Jeremy Dauber does to the horror genre with American Scary what he did to the comic book world with American Comics. The author exhaustingly researched the genre and gives us a definitive history of what scares Americans.
American Scary takes us to the startling origins of the horror genre in the United States, drawing a surprising through-line between the lingering influence of the European Gothic, the enslaved insurrection tales propagated by slaveholders, and the apocryphal chronicles of colonial settlers kidnapped by Native Americans, among many others.
These foundational narratives give rise to and are influenced by the body of work we more closely associate with horror: the weird fiction of HP Lovecraft, the lingering stories of Shirley Jackson, the unsettling films of Alfred Hitchcock, the up-all-night tales of Stephen King, and the gripping critiques of Jordan Peele.
From The Tell-Tale Heart to M3gan, we begin to see why the horror genre is the perfect prism through which to view America’s past and present. With the extraordinary historical breadth and dexterous weave of insight and style that has made him twice a finalist for the National Jewish Book, Dauber makes the haunting case that horror reveals the true depths of the American mind.
Jeremy Dauber is known for not leaving any stone unturned with researching and writing his books. Through his meticulous research and storytelling, Dauber gives us a book that teaches and engages us in the rich tapestry of American horror from books, movies, television plus even radio and computer games. We fell in love with his ability to shed light on the history the world of comics and now he tells all about the history of the horror genre.
As we read American Scary we learned so much about the horror genre and how key names have left their mark on horror. Dauber expertly connects the dots between influential creators and their contributions to American horror as well how historical moments have influenced what scares us as Americans. By examining the works of these famous names in horror, Dauber reveals how horror serves as a mirror reflecting society's deepest fears and anxieties.
I am only recently, over the past five years or so, been a huge fan of the horror genre. Boiling down American Scary is exactly how I feel about horror. Americans are afraid of the unknown and stuff that is different than us as Americans. This fear is what the horror genre is built on and Dauber successfully gives us a history of this with his latest outstanding book.
Known for his insightful commentary on cultural history and literature, Dauber brings his expertise to bear in American Scary which even the most seasoned horror fan with get something from this book. Dauber has a knack for engaging narrative storytelling with meticulous research, and insightful analysis, giving us a comprehensive look at how fear has permeated every aspect of American culture. American Scary is for those who grew up celebrating the horror and those new to genre.
American Scary takes us to the startling origins of the horror genre in the United States, drawing a surprising through-line between the lingering influence of the European Gothic, the enslaved insurrection tales propagated by slaveholders, and the apocryphal chronicles of colonial settlers kidnapped by Native Americans, among many others.
These foundational narratives give rise to and are influenced by the body of work we more closely associate with horror: the weird fiction of HP Lovecraft, the lingering stories of Shirley Jackson, the unsettling films of Alfred Hitchcock, the up-all-night tales of Stephen King, and the gripping critiques of Jordan Peele.
From The Tell-Tale Heart to M3gan, we begin to see why the horror genre is the perfect prism through which to view America’s past and present. With the extraordinary historical breadth and dexterous weave of insight and style that has made him twice a finalist for the National Jewish Book, Dauber makes the haunting case that horror reveals the true depths of the American mind.
Jeremy Dauber is known for not leaving any stone unturned with researching and writing his books. Through his meticulous research and storytelling, Dauber gives us a book that teaches and engages us in the rich tapestry of American horror from books, movies, television plus even radio and computer games. We fell in love with his ability to shed light on the history the world of comics and now he tells all about the history of the horror genre.
As we read American Scary we learned so much about the horror genre and how key names have left their mark on horror. Dauber expertly connects the dots between influential creators and their contributions to American horror as well how historical moments have influenced what scares us as Americans. By examining the works of these famous names in horror, Dauber reveals how horror serves as a mirror reflecting society's deepest fears and anxieties.
I am only recently, over the past five years or so, been a huge fan of the horror genre. Boiling down American Scary is exactly how I feel about horror. Americans are afraid of the unknown and stuff that is different than us as Americans. This fear is what the horror genre is built on and Dauber successfully gives us a history of this with his latest outstanding book.
Known for his insightful commentary on cultural history and literature, Dauber brings his expertise to bear in American Scary which even the most seasoned horror fan with get something from this book. Dauber has a knack for engaging narrative storytelling with meticulous research, and insightful analysis, giving us a comprehensive look at how fear has permeated every aspect of American culture. American Scary is for those who grew up celebrating the horror and those new to genre.
January 4, 2025
A thorough, although at times, exhausting look back at America’s history of horror in literature, film, and our culture in general. Well researched. I loved learning about many books, movies and television programs I’d never heard of before. As the title suggests, the author truly begins at America’s beginnings, and moves right into post pandemic America and how horror now plays a role in our video games, on-line and within social media, and its role in AI.
Took me some time to work my way through this one. But if you enjoy the horror genre, you might really enjoy this. I went with 3.5/4 ⭐️s instead of 5 with this one. I loved the research and facts the author wrote about, but I could have used less of his own personal commentary; especially about recent events and politics in America.
Took me some time to work my way through this one. But if you enjoy the horror genre, you might really enjoy this. I went with 3.5/4 ⭐️s instead of 5 with this one. I loved the research and facts the author wrote about, but I could have used less of his own personal commentary; especially about recent events and politics in America.
October 23, 2024
Thank you to Novel Suspects, Algonquin Books, and Hachette Audio for the copies to review.
I loved reading this via audio, as this could drag a little at times, or be a bit thorough is maybe a better way to put it, but overall it was a look into why we can’t get enough of horror stories and being scared. It covers a wide range of history from basically the origin of the horror genre in the US, and brings us to current day, covering Hitchcock, Stephen King, Jordan Peele, and so many others I’ve left out. It is definitely a must read for horror fans but this is also an important read, as Dauber ties the origins of horror to the colonial days and slavery, aka real life horrors, and continues through various eras throughout history. He makes the point that Americans are afraid of the unknown and things that are different than them, and when these things change then fear is heightened, causing actions such as the Salem witch trials. I could go on but this was a fascinating, thorough, and well done book on the root of horror, how it relates to real world events that occurred through time, and how many have capitalized on it through books, movies, and TV.
I loved reading this via audio, as this could drag a little at times, or be a bit thorough is maybe a better way to put it, but overall it was a look into why we can’t get enough of horror stories and being scared. It covers a wide range of history from basically the origin of the horror genre in the US, and brings us to current day, covering Hitchcock, Stephen King, Jordan Peele, and so many others I’ve left out. It is definitely a must read for horror fans but this is also an important read, as Dauber ties the origins of horror to the colonial days and slavery, aka real life horrors, and continues through various eras throughout history. He makes the point that Americans are afraid of the unknown and things that are different than them, and when these things change then fear is heightened, causing actions such as the Salem witch trials. I could go on but this was a fascinating, thorough, and well done book on the root of horror, how it relates to real world events that occurred through time, and how many have capitalized on it through books, movies, and TV.
November 4, 2024
In American Scary, Jeremy Dauber, a Columbia University professor and cultural historian, presents a fascinating journey through the dark corridors of American horror, from colonial fears to contemporary anxieties. Following his acclaimed works on American Comics and Jewish Comedy, Dauber brings his characteristic blend of scholarly insight and engaging narrative style to illuminate how horror has been both a mirror and a lens for American society.
The Haunted Foundations of American Horror
Dauber begins his exploration in colonial America, where he skillfully demonstrates how the earliest American horror stories emerged from very real terrors: the fear of divine punishment among Puritans, the dread of Native American attacks among settlers, and the horrific realities of slavery. His analysis of Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative and Cotton Mather's writings on witchcraft reveals how these early texts established patterns that would echo through centuries of American horror.
One of the book's greatest strengths is Dauber's ability to draw connections between seemingly disparate elements. He shows how the Salem witch trials, for instance, weren't just about supernatural fear but about societal control and the horror of false accusation – themes that would resurface in everything from The Crucible to modern political horror.
Literary Evolution and Social Commentary
The author's examination of the Gothic tradition's transformation on American soil is particularly insightful. Through careful analysis of works by Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dauber shows how American writers adapted European Gothic conventions to address uniquely American anxieties about identity, morality, and progress.
Strengths
Deep historical context and cultural analysis
Engaging writing style that balances academic insight with accessibility
Comprehensive coverage of both well-known and overlooked contributors to the genre
Thoughtful connections between historical events and their horror manifestations
Strong examination of how horror reflects societal fears across different eras
Areas for Improvement
Occasionally becomes too academic in tone, potentially alienating casual readers
Could have dedicated more space to international influences on American horror
Some contemporary horror creators receive relatively brief treatment
The final chapter feels somewhat rushed compared to earlier sections
Could have included more visual elements to support the text
The Modern Monster
Dauber's analysis truly shines when he reaches the 20th century, expertly dissecting how atomic age anxieties, civil rights struggles, and technological fears birthed new forms of horror. His examination of how Night of the Living Dead revolutionized both horror cinema and social commentary is particularly compelling.
Innovation in Structure
The book's organization deserves special praise. Rather than following a strictly chronological approach, Dauber weaves thematic threads that connect different eras, showing how similar fears manifest in different ways across time. This approach helps readers understand how horror evolves while fundamental anxieties remain constant.
Contemporary Relevance
The final sections of American Scary bring us to the present, with intelligent analysis of how filmmakers like Jordan Peele use horror to address contemporary social issues. Dauber convincingly argues that horror remains our most effective genre for processing societal trauma and confronting uncomfortable truths.
Critical Analysis
While American Scary is overwhelmingly successful in its ambitious scope, there are moments where Dauber's academic background leads to passages that might be too dense for casual readers. Additionally, some readers might wish for more extensive coverage of certain contemporary horror creators.
Final Verdict
American Scary is a masterful examination of horror's role in American culture. Dauber has created an essential text for understanding how our fears shape our stories and how those stories, in turn, shape us. While occasionally academic in tone, the book's insights and connections make it invaluable for anyone interested in horror or American cultural history.
The Haunted Foundations of American Horror
Dauber begins his exploration in colonial America, where he skillfully demonstrates how the earliest American horror stories emerged from very real terrors: the fear of divine punishment among Puritans, the dread of Native American attacks among settlers, and the horrific realities of slavery. His analysis of Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative and Cotton Mather's writings on witchcraft reveals how these early texts established patterns that would echo through centuries of American horror.
One of the book's greatest strengths is Dauber's ability to draw connections between seemingly disparate elements. He shows how the Salem witch trials, for instance, weren't just about supernatural fear but about societal control and the horror of false accusation – themes that would resurface in everything from The Crucible to modern political horror.
Literary Evolution and Social Commentary
The author's examination of the Gothic tradition's transformation on American soil is particularly insightful. Through careful analysis of works by Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dauber shows how American writers adapted European Gothic conventions to address uniquely American anxieties about identity, morality, and progress.
Strengths
Deep historical context and cultural analysis
Engaging writing style that balances academic insight with accessibility
Comprehensive coverage of both well-known and overlooked contributors to the genre
Thoughtful connections between historical events and their horror manifestations
Strong examination of how horror reflects societal fears across different eras
Areas for Improvement
Occasionally becomes too academic in tone, potentially alienating casual readers
Could have dedicated more space to international influences on American horror
Some contemporary horror creators receive relatively brief treatment
The final chapter feels somewhat rushed compared to earlier sections
Could have included more visual elements to support the text
The Modern Monster
Dauber's analysis truly shines when he reaches the 20th century, expertly dissecting how atomic age anxieties, civil rights struggles, and technological fears birthed new forms of horror. His examination of how Night of the Living Dead revolutionized both horror cinema and social commentary is particularly compelling.
Innovation in Structure
The book's organization deserves special praise. Rather than following a strictly chronological approach, Dauber weaves thematic threads that connect different eras, showing how similar fears manifest in different ways across time. This approach helps readers understand how horror evolves while fundamental anxieties remain constant.
Contemporary Relevance
The final sections of American Scary bring us to the present, with intelligent analysis of how filmmakers like Jordan Peele use horror to address contemporary social issues. Dauber convincingly argues that horror remains our most effective genre for processing societal trauma and confronting uncomfortable truths.
Critical Analysis
While American Scary is overwhelmingly successful in its ambitious scope, there are moments where Dauber's academic background leads to passages that might be too dense for casual readers. Additionally, some readers might wish for more extensive coverage of certain contemporary horror creators.
Final Verdict
American Scary is a masterful examination of horror's role in American culture. Dauber has created an essential text for understanding how our fears shape our stories and how those stories, in turn, shape us. While occasionally academic in tone, the book's insights and connections make it invaluable for anyone interested in horror or American cultural history.
April 18, 2025
Good premise, absolutely terrible execution. I hate to speak badly of a fellow horror fan's passion project — at least, I assume Dauber is a horror fan because I can't imagine anyone undertaking a book like this if they weren't — but there is nothing fun, compelling, or substantial here. I've had far more interesting and insightful conversations with friends and acquaintances about what kinds of horror we like, why we like it, and what that might say about us.
I'll give Dauber credit for the sheer scope of the book (covering 300+ years of American horror is no small feat), but, as many other reviewers have pointed out, every aspect of the book lacks depth as a result. Organized (roughly) chronologically as well as (roughly) by the themes/tropes that emerged during or defined different centuries or decades of horror, Dauber flits between works haphazardly and manages to say hardly anything at all in the process. Sure, he touches on the real-world events and anxieties that inspired creators — the Salem witch trials, war, racism and imperialism, AIDS, the rise of technology, etc. — but these influences have been well-documented and analyzed before and nothing feels new or original in Dauber's presentation. It's a very "everything and the kitchen sink" approach that sorely lacks cohesiveness and clear logic and often meanders off to include media that are decidedly not horror, sometimes not even remotely horror-adjacent. My favorite example of this is when he deems the original Pac-Man game a kind of horror story because you're being chased by ghosts. Or when he feels the need to mention Homer Simpson while discussing fears of nuclear annihilation. (Yes, really.) You don't need to mention every piece of media in existence that shares these themes, my guy!!
I could probably forgive some of these issues if Dauber was an engaging writer, or if his love for horror came more clearly through the page (it just doesn't), but the writing style was not for me and his use of punctuation and sentence structures were downright painful at times. Horrifying, even. (Perhaps the abuse of commas and semicolons was the true horror all along? Okay, okay, I'll stop.)
I'll give Dauber credit for the sheer scope of the book (covering 300+ years of American horror is no small feat), but, as many other reviewers have pointed out, every aspect of the book lacks depth as a result. Organized (roughly) chronologically as well as (roughly) by the themes/tropes that emerged during or defined different centuries or decades of horror, Dauber flits between works haphazardly and manages to say hardly anything at all in the process. Sure, he touches on the real-world events and anxieties that inspired creators — the Salem witch trials, war, racism and imperialism, AIDS, the rise of technology, etc. — but these influences have been well-documented and analyzed before and nothing feels new or original in Dauber's presentation. It's a very "everything and the kitchen sink" approach that sorely lacks cohesiveness and clear logic and often meanders off to include media that are decidedly not horror, sometimes not even remotely horror-adjacent. My favorite example of this is when he deems the original Pac-Man game a kind of horror story because you're being chased by ghosts. Or when he feels the need to mention Homer Simpson while discussing fears of nuclear annihilation. (Yes, really.) You don't need to mention every piece of media in existence that shares these themes, my guy!!
I could probably forgive some of these issues if Dauber was an engaging writer, or if his love for horror came more clearly through the page (it just doesn't), but the writing style was not for me and his use of punctuation and sentence structures were downright painful at times. Horrifying, even. (Perhaps the abuse of commas and semicolons was the true horror all along? Okay, okay, I'll stop.)
Read
August 12, 2025This is a light textbook about the history of horror in the US and shows the how expansive the horror "genre" is. I would recommend, but only to people really into the genre.
While the author did mention influences of marginalized groups and the reflection of their oppression in horror works in an insightful way, most attention was paid to the white, male authors and directors the author wanted to write about. I was shocked there wasn't more inclusion of Indigenous folklore's impact on American horror. This needed at least 5 more rounds of editing as well. There were some very obvious typos, and the author jumped all over the place when there could have been a more defined line of narration. Also have not met an author that liked colons so much: they've been exhausted.
While the author did mention influences of marginalized groups and the reflection of their oppression in horror works in an insightful way, most attention was paid to the white, male authors and directors the author wanted to write about. I was shocked there wasn't more inclusion of Indigenous folklore's impact on American horror. This needed at least 5 more rounds of editing as well. There were some very obvious typos, and the author jumped all over the place when there could have been a more defined line of narration. Also have not met an author that liked colons so much: they've been exhausted.
January 31, 2025
3.75 rounded up
A wealth of knowledge on the horror genre that covers a bit too much to be fully digestible
A wealth of knowledge on the horror genre that covers a bit too much to be fully digestible
Read
April 7, 2025towards the end it became very obvious that the author had not watched/read the more modern movies/books/TV shows and was simply talking out of his ass about certain things lol
June 2, 2025
Writing a book about the history of horror in America is a daunting task that Dauber sets out to do in this book. He covers historical events like war, 9/11, Covid, literature, comics, movies, and television at times skimming the surface and at others covering a bit more in depth. Hawthorne, Poe, and HPL are mentioned often. It would be quite hard to mention every single book or movie about horror, but Dauber does a decent job covering what he does in 400+ pages.
January 30, 2025
This book should not be read. It is fucking miserable. If you want cool insights on American horror stories, go somewhere else. If you want the most obvious, freshman-level historical interpretations of random pieces of media, then this is the book for you!
Because the author either doesn’t know how to brand the book or is a complete idiot, the book is actually not really about “horror” at all. Do we ever get a working definition of that word? No, that’s ridiculous you dweeb. Instead, it becomes very obvious that the author is more interested in talking about any and all random media that talks about … bad events in America? Are slavery, misogyny, homophobia, racism horrible, awful, no good, terrible mistakes? Absolutely. Is any piece of media that discusses these things horror? Why yes! At least, if you’re Jeremy Dauber.
There’s a lot of shit in this book. The writing is awful. The analysis is poor and forced. I simply don’t have the time to number all the ways that this book is terrible. So, I’m going to arbitrarily pick the weird way it picks its media selections.
The book is primarily a shitty historical retelling of American history through media, primarily books and secondarily movies once they come on the scene. Each chapter begins with something stupid like “misogyny bad. This book talks about scary women.” Because the book is primarily about history, you end up with stuff like…the Diary of Anne Frank as a horror(?) novel. Is nazism scary? Of course. Is that a horror novel? No. Congratulations, you have more brains than our author.
And, like any terrible literature student, the intent of the actual media, thoughts of the author/director etc. does not matter. Did you know that The Walking Dead is an exploration of late stage capitalism? No? Because it’s fucking not. Could you interpret it that way? If you had nothing better to do and wanted to be annoying, why yes you could. It’s this sort of shit writing that allows people to make fun of literature and humanities. This is the epitome of “sometimes the curtains are just blue.” Anyone how actually likes horror will find nothing enjoyable here. Anyone who likes history will find this a vapid and obvious litany of facts.
If you’d like me to shit on this book some more, feel free to hit me up.
Because the author either doesn’t know how to brand the book or is a complete idiot, the book is actually not really about “horror” at all. Do we ever get a working definition of that word? No, that’s ridiculous you dweeb. Instead, it becomes very obvious that the author is more interested in talking about any and all random media that talks about … bad events in America? Are slavery, misogyny, homophobia, racism horrible, awful, no good, terrible mistakes? Absolutely. Is any piece of media that discusses these things horror? Why yes! At least, if you’re Jeremy Dauber.
There’s a lot of shit in this book. The writing is awful. The analysis is poor and forced. I simply don’t have the time to number all the ways that this book is terrible. So, I’m going to arbitrarily pick the weird way it picks its media selections.
The book is primarily a shitty historical retelling of American history through media, primarily books and secondarily movies once they come on the scene. Each chapter begins with something stupid like “misogyny bad. This book talks about scary women.” Because the book is primarily about history, you end up with stuff like…the Diary of Anne Frank as a horror(?) novel. Is nazism scary? Of course. Is that a horror novel? No. Congratulations, you have more brains than our author.
And, like any terrible literature student, the intent of the actual media, thoughts of the author/director etc. does not matter. Did you know that The Walking Dead is an exploration of late stage capitalism? No? Because it’s fucking not. Could you interpret it that way? If you had nothing better to do and wanted to be annoying, why yes you could. It’s this sort of shit writing that allows people to make fun of literature and humanities. This is the epitome of “sometimes the curtains are just blue.” Anyone how actually likes horror will find nothing enjoyable here. Anyone who likes history will find this a vapid and obvious litany of facts.
If you’d like me to shit on this book some more, feel free to hit me up.
June 8, 2025
Best nonfiction book I’ve read in *a while*. If you have any interest in horror, literature, pop culture, history, and/or society as a whole, you should absolutely check this out.
October 15, 2024
A chronological, encyclopedic commentary on the history of horror films. Yup, that’s the book. If that description sounds enjoyable to you, then this one is a winner!
October 27, 2024
»—-Booksta ¸.•´*¨`*• Book Blog •*`¨*`•. 25+ Book Discord-—«
As a lover of everything horror and history, I’m basically the exact right audience for this book and it’s such a joy to read this October. 👻 This is exactly what I hope for in a nonfiction book: a deep understanding of the topic at hand with exhaustive research and tons of citations for further review written in an engaging, fun way.
I thought I knew everything there was to know about horror and I see now that I was so wrong. This book has taught me so much about both horror and history and I love the way Dauber interweaves these subjects.
All of that being said, I think this will more of a hit for people who like the super detailed history of things. What's fun and engaging for me won't be fun and engaging for anyone who doesn't have an intense interest in both horror and history at the same time.
Thanks to Algonquin Books for the arc!
As a lover of everything horror and history, I’m basically the exact right audience for this book and it’s such a joy to read this October. 👻 This is exactly what I hope for in a nonfiction book: a deep understanding of the topic at hand with exhaustive research and tons of citations for further review written in an engaging, fun way.
I thought I knew everything there was to know about horror and I see now that I was so wrong. This book has taught me so much about both horror and history and I love the way Dauber interweaves these subjects.
All of that being said, I think this will more of a hit for people who like the super detailed history of things. What's fun and engaging for me won't be fun and engaging for anyone who doesn't have an intense interest in both horror and history at the same time.
Thanks to Algonquin Books for the arc!
October 10, 2024
American Scary by Jonathan Dauber is a great compendium on things that we fear from True Crime to scary movies to scary books and everything in between. He went back to the americas beginning with the first murder trial the witch hunt in Salem Oregon to yellow journalism Edgar Allan Poe Jonathan peel and everything in between. Even the things I knew nothing about only added to my TBR pile on my TV W Netflix account but ultimately I was very surprised at all the stuff I knew about the things I didn’t know about it I know this review is vague just know there’s too much in this book because it is very long to give a complete and total review this is a great book that I absolutely enjoyed and thought I would never finish but I did… Yay me! #NetGalley,#AlgonquinBooks, #JonathanDauber, #AmericanScary,
September 26, 2025
This book was fantastic! It’s a really insightful look into how our culture has shaped the horror we consume, and also how the horror we consume has shaped our culture. As a fan of the genre, I found this immensely fascinating, but it’s also approachable for those who are maybe a little squeamish when it comes to horror, since the book focuses more on why we create and consume what we create and consume, and doesn’t really go into the gory details. I listened to the audiobook of this, and now I’m debating going back and buying the hardcover for my library. 5 stars.
July 22, 2025
Had to dnf this one because it was way too dense for me. If you’re looking for an exhaustive history then this is for you, but I was looking for something a bit more digestible for the average horror fan.
June 15, 2025
3.5 🌟 clearly well-researched and a wealth of information, but the depth of the subject matter is sacrificed so the breadth can shine. A few of these chapters could have made great books of their own!
April 23, 2025
I wanted to like this but it was written poorly. Not every sentence has to include so much information and there were persistent typos. Everyone needs a good editor.
October 10, 2025
DND 18% - Who knew that horror and historical, two of my favorite genres, could be more boring than watching paint dry.
January 20, 2025
I think a more narrowly-focused book that didn’t try to cram in so many pieces of media would’ve been better. The author tries to cover so many movies/books, much of this reads like a novel-length list of media titles with two-sentence plot descriptions each. Almost like the author was most afraid of being accused of leaving something out?
August 12, 2025
When the history of America is written, it would be nice to think that it's a history of triumph over the evil sins of our past and a reflection of the better angels of our nature. But the ultimate demon in popular and religious animation began as an angel, one of God's favorites no less, and so it stands to reason, in the year 2025, as the headlines seem to confirm every hour, that we are not in a moment a shining city upon a hill. It's more apt to say that we're a haunted house where the Boogeyman lurks, or an isolated outpost where a mysterious creature can assume the form of our most trusted friend, or any number of fictional settings for some of the most enduring horrors of our memory. And what that says about us means a lot.
"American Scary," by Jeremy Dauber, is a sort of "Danse Macabre" for our modern age, chronicling horror's evolution over the years much as Stephen King's 1981 tome did. While it does overstate its case at times, and rushes through examples with a breakneck pace that allows little time for reflection, it's genuinely entertaining.
Beginning with the Salem Witch Trials and the sort of fear endemic to a new culture encountering the Indigenous tribes of the Americas, Dauber goes on an epic trek through aspects of the country's literary and cinematic history as it relates to the overall history of the nation. As such, Dauber has to cover a lot of ground. And doing so is exhaustive but also exhausting at times; while some properties get room to breathe in being discussed, others barrel towards the reader in one paragraph and are forgotten by the time the next paragraph begins. I'm not saying that this is untrue of similar survey/history accounts, but there's a way to do it artfully that I don't think Dauber achieves very often.
That being said, this is a hell of a fun ride through cultural history and how it has shaped (and been shaped by) actual national history. Our original sins (racism, slavery, misogyny, and so on) have fueled some of our most profound nightmares, and while I wish Dauber had spent more time on some examples, I understand that his aim was to highlight specific things briefly because he has a lot of ground to cover. Perhaps a less chronological-based effort would have done more examination, but that's not the book that Dauber writes here. Taking it as it is, it's still very engaging and readable, and worth your time even if your go-to way to watch a horror film is through the slits between your fingers as you cover your eyes.
"American Scary," by Jeremy Dauber, is a sort of "Danse Macabre" for our modern age, chronicling horror's evolution over the years much as Stephen King's 1981 tome did. While it does overstate its case at times, and rushes through examples with a breakneck pace that allows little time for reflection, it's genuinely entertaining.
Beginning with the Salem Witch Trials and the sort of fear endemic to a new culture encountering the Indigenous tribes of the Americas, Dauber goes on an epic trek through aspects of the country's literary and cinematic history as it relates to the overall history of the nation. As such, Dauber has to cover a lot of ground. And doing so is exhaustive but also exhausting at times; while some properties get room to breathe in being discussed, others barrel towards the reader in one paragraph and are forgotten by the time the next paragraph begins. I'm not saying that this is untrue of similar survey/history accounts, but there's a way to do it artfully that I don't think Dauber achieves very often.
That being said, this is a hell of a fun ride through cultural history and how it has shaped (and been shaped by) actual national history. Our original sins (racism, slavery, misogyny, and so on) have fueled some of our most profound nightmares, and while I wish Dauber had spent more time on some examples, I understand that his aim was to highlight specific things briefly because he has a lot of ground to cover. Perhaps a less chronological-based effort would have done more examination, but that's not the book that Dauber writes here. Taking it as it is, it's still very engaging and readable, and worth your time even if your go-to way to watch a horror film is through the slits between your fingers as you cover your eyes.
January 12, 2025
*Hybrid Reading with Audiobook and Hardcover*
I’m genuinely unsure how to rate and review this book. How do you possibly rate such a comprehensive look at an entire genre?
On the one hand, it does exactly what it sets out to do and that is provide a history of horror. On the other hand, it was dry with a breakneck pace and possibly used the phrase, “turn of the screw” one too many times.
For any avid horror fan, this is a great resource to have on hand if you’re looking for horror movie or book recommendations. However, this book felt like it was packed with so much information, to the point it became almost a bulleted list of horror movies, books, and themes that have existed long before the moving picture (I.e., slavery, imprisonment, witchcraft, etc.). Considering the amount of history the author covered in 480 pages, I understand that not every piece of history is going to get more than its 10 minutes of fame.
Along with the sprinting pace, the author organized the book chronologically (for the most part) but towards the end it traversed into being more organized by theme and then would bounce between the two.
Apparently, this book is/was a course the author taught at Columbia and, unfortunately, this premise fits better in a 15 week course than a 480 page book. I’m still glad it was written because I’ll never take a course at Columbia, but with the breadth of content this covers, I wanted a deeper dive than a mere skim.
I’ll be burned at the stake for saying this, but I prefer the format of Shudder’s History of Horror series. Each episode is organized by theme (e.g., vampires, monsters, serial killers, final girls, etc.) which gives you a better sense for where each of these topics came from, the impact it had on culture, and gives you a glimpse into where the genre is going.
The book is fantastic (dare I say, killer) at being a one-stop shop for horror fans interested in a general overview of the genre, but if you’re looking for a deep dive, you’ll need to continue your search.
I’m genuinely unsure how to rate and review this book. How do you possibly rate such a comprehensive look at an entire genre?
On the one hand, it does exactly what it sets out to do and that is provide a history of horror. On the other hand, it was dry with a breakneck pace and possibly used the phrase, “turn of the screw” one too many times.
For any avid horror fan, this is a great resource to have on hand if you’re looking for horror movie or book recommendations. However, this book felt like it was packed with so much information, to the point it became almost a bulleted list of horror movies, books, and themes that have existed long before the moving picture (I.e., slavery, imprisonment, witchcraft, etc.). Considering the amount of history the author covered in 480 pages, I understand that not every piece of history is going to get more than its 10 minutes of fame.
Along with the sprinting pace, the author organized the book chronologically (for the most part) but towards the end it traversed into being more organized by theme and then would bounce between the two.
Apparently, this book is/was a course the author taught at Columbia and, unfortunately, this premise fits better in a 15 week course than a 480 page book. I’m still glad it was written because I’ll never take a course at Columbia, but with the breadth of content this covers, I wanted a deeper dive than a mere skim.
I’ll be burned at the stake for saying this, but I prefer the format of Shudder’s History of Horror series. Each episode is organized by theme (e.g., vampires, monsters, serial killers, final girls, etc.) which gives you a better sense for where each of these topics came from, the impact it had on culture, and gives you a glimpse into where the genre is going.
The book is fantastic (dare I say, killer) at being a one-stop shop for horror fans interested in a general overview of the genre, but if you’re looking for a deep dive, you’ll need to continue your search.
May 12, 2025
Excellent breadth and depth.
Finale:
Whether you believe that Donald Trump is America’s worst nightmare or its savior, it’s unquestionable that, as of this writing, he is a serious contender to become president once again; and so another of many parts of our past is coming back as we face the future. Russia is once more an American global enemy, and has recently threatened the use of nuclear weapons. Every month seems to bring another report of the senseless death of someone poor, someone defenseless, someone Black, someone trans. We’re inundated by news of yet another slaughter by AR-15. What possible way is there to break free of this?
ALMOST EVERY CREATOR OF HORROR—ALMOST every horror fan—has been asked this question, and most of them, in some form, have asked it of themselves: Why is it that you’re interested in this stuff in the first place? Isn’t the world scary enough, out there? Why do you need to be scared more? And the answer, the answer that we all have, I suspect, is: of course. Of course it’s scary enough out there. It’s too scary. Much scarier than fiction, in fact. And so—and, like we said way back at the beginning of our journey together, this is an old answer, old as Aristotle—you take the scary stuff and you put it into a form that you can control; and you aestheticize and count out its beats and rhythms and you scream and you close the book or leave the theater or turn off the television and your heart returns to its normal rhythm and you feel a little better. For a while. And as for the particular forms those control mechanisms take: well, that’s been our story, hasn’t it?
America is a journey, and the fundamental fears move and twist to take the shape of the road (as well as reflecting who gets to drive on it, of course). And if they sometimes pop back up in your head, a terrible jack-in-the-box, if they disturb your dreams and make you look around when you think you’re alone… That’s because you know that even though they’re not real, that it’s just a movie, or a book.…
You know they are real.
All of them.
Deep down.
Good night.
Finale:
Whether you believe that Donald Trump is America’s worst nightmare or its savior, it’s unquestionable that, as of this writing, he is a serious contender to become president once again; and so another of many parts of our past is coming back as we face the future. Russia is once more an American global enemy, and has recently threatened the use of nuclear weapons. Every month seems to bring another report of the senseless death of someone poor, someone defenseless, someone Black, someone trans. We’re inundated by news of yet another slaughter by AR-15. What possible way is there to break free of this?
ALMOST EVERY CREATOR OF HORROR—ALMOST every horror fan—has been asked this question, and most of them, in some form, have asked it of themselves: Why is it that you’re interested in this stuff in the first place? Isn’t the world scary enough, out there? Why do you need to be scared more? And the answer, the answer that we all have, I suspect, is: of course. Of course it’s scary enough out there. It’s too scary. Much scarier than fiction, in fact. And so—and, like we said way back at the beginning of our journey together, this is an old answer, old as Aristotle—you take the scary stuff and you put it into a form that you can control; and you aestheticize and count out its beats and rhythms and you scream and you close the book or leave the theater or turn off the television and your heart returns to its normal rhythm and you feel a little better. For a while. And as for the particular forms those control mechanisms take: well, that’s been our story, hasn’t it?
America is a journey, and the fundamental fears move and twist to take the shape of the road (as well as reflecting who gets to drive on it, of course). And if they sometimes pop back up in your head, a terrible jack-in-the-box, if they disturb your dreams and make you look around when you think you’re alone… That’s because you know that even though they’re not real, that it’s just a movie, or a book.…
You know they are real.
All of them.
Deep down.
Good night.
December 24, 2025
3.75 rounded to 4. I've been debating about what to rate this book - on the one hand, I had an overall positive time with it and I essentially agree with most of what he says and I really like his narrative voice, I also learned quite a bit (especially for me in regard to the intersection between real life true crime events - which I don't really follow - and horror works of the same time period that were less known to me), and it's an obviously really well researched endeavor. I definitely liked that it was a bit of a history lessons alongside a cultural/media studies book. I also liked how he went into cultural forms of horror that are less known to me, such as online platforms/video games/etc. On the other hand I do read a decent amount of horror theory, and I feel like this book suffered a bit from just trying to do too much. He covered a huge time period and he gave tons of examples without going into much detail on any one example - this I think caused them to start to blend into eachother, and his train of thought seemed to be all over. I would have preferred if he went into more detail with a couple of examples from each of his points, and then maybe provided a list at the end perhaps of materials to look at in relation to each section. Because of all the examples I also think it had a lot of spoilers -and where I understand that is necessary in general for analysis and I usually invite it, I think the way many of these were given more like lists than analysis just felt unnecessary. Luckily there were so many examples that I probably won't remember anyways. (edited to add: he did make a point not to give away endings of more well known films/movies/shows/etc.) Overall I did like it though, for all the reasons listed initially.
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