Review
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Praise for Wasteland
The Washington Post, One of the Best Books to Take You Off the
Beaten Track
Unbound Worlds, One of the Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of
October 2018
"Wasteland, W. Scott Poole’s exploration of some of the Great
War’s consequences for popular art, is fully attuned to the
conflict’s devastating psychological impact . . . Highly
persuasive . . . Poole’s general conclusions about World War I’s
transformation into art, and the process of psychological
displacement that accompanied it, are incontestable." ―D.J.
Taylor, The Wall Street Journal
"Tackling the indescribable horrors of wartime is a delicate but
necessary task, as Poole ventures in his latest title. Beginning
with the Great War, the author exhaustively discusses the
influences each era’s war had on their directors, writers, actors
and audiences of the horror genre, all while giving history
lessons of the war in tow." ―Fangoria
"Poole writes with empathic in . . . The arc of Wasteland
spans wide across the arts . . . He writes fluidly and with sharp
intent about the traumatized and boundary shattering anxieties
through the work of the postwar surrealists, the
war-inflected apocalyptic racist horror of Lovecraft, and what he
sees as the shadow of war in the fiction of Kafka . . . His
skilled knitting together of a broad range of genres and the
spirit of unease permeating them all carries its own salient kind
of moral horror." ―Chris Barsanti, Rain Taxi
"A sophisticated work of cultural history . . . The book's
wide-ranging erudition, strong prose, and clear love and
fascination with both history and horror . . . will appeal to a
variety of readers." ―Jesse Kavadlo, PopMatters
"[A] fascinating new book about how [World War I] reshaped
western culture . . . Poole is a very gifted writer." ―Gene Walz,
Winnipeg Free Press
"Poole brings a scholar’s eye to the horror found in literature,
film and other artistic expressions ever since [World War I] . .
. Wasteland will appeal to film and buffs, horror fans,
those interested in popular culture and those who seek a better
understanding of the escalating violence of the last 100 years .
. . A fascinating read." ―Bill Schwab, The Missourian
"Wasteland spans multiple nations, dozens of battles, and traces
how warfare influenced artists of all crafts. Moving beyond
prejudiced perceptions of high- and low-brow art, as well as the
various designations used to pigeonhole artists, Poole reveals
the connective tissue holding together the s of modern
monsters." ―Charleston City Paper
"A fascinating read." ―Vampires.com
"Thoroughly engrossing cultural study . . . Poole persuasively
argues that the birth of horror as a genre is rooted in the
unprecedented destruction and carnage of WWI . . . Will make it
hard for readers who haven’t considered the wartime context for
horror’s emergence to forget it." ―Publishers Weekly (starred
review)
"Poole brings a scholar's eye and a devotee's heart to a study
of the literary, film, and artistic incarnations of horror from
the World War I period to today." ―Kirkus Reviews
"Elegantly written and cogently argued, Wasteland convincingly
demonstrates the modern horror genre's origins in the great Dance
of Death that was the First World War." ―David J. Skal, author of
The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror
"W. Scott Poole combines smart readings of the horror classics
with detailed knowledge of twentieth-century history, art, and
literature to dig deep into the serious side of these popular
entertainments. I thought I already knew the subject inside out,
but Wasteland introduced me to fresh facts, new ideas, and
surprising connections. This is cultural history of a very high
order: intelligent, lively, and wonderfully readable."
―Christopher Bram, author of Gods and Monsters
"A book I never really thought I would read, as I don't care for
horror; I flew through the pages. This is one of the most
intriguing histories of war and how its influence has reached
into every aspect of our lives to this day. I simply could not
put this book down!" ―Shannon Alden, Literati Bookstore (Ann
Arbor, MI)
"This is a book that might appear to be geared toward fans of
horror, but anyone interested in history or cultural studies will
find Poole's thorough analysis fascinating." ―Dave Lucey, Page
158 Books (Wake Forest, NC)
Praise for In the ains of Madness
"A deep plunge into the Lovecraft-ian dark side. Poole
enthusiastically explores how H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)
influenced modern pop culture . . . Poole seamlessly weaves
biography and criticism as he shows how the fodder of Lovecraft's
mental state was transformed into the eerie, occult-infused
stories Nail Gan calls 'where the darkness begins' . . .
[T]horoughly enjoyable and highly readable." ―Kirkus Reviews
"Must reading for both loyal Lovecraft fans and biography
lovers." ―Booklist
"This work by Poole makes Lovecraft's story accessible to casual
readers without forsaking the level of detail expected of a more
scholarly work... this book entertains and surprises, as with
Poole's decision to write in the first person―he's a wry and
jovial narrator. He also takes pains to explore Lovecraft's
influence upon art and popular culture... This interesting
biography also provides new perspectives on the author's
character that will incense the keepers of Lovecraft's mythos."
―Library Journal
"H.P. Lovecraft is having one hell of a resurgence. Luckily, the
author of the man's latest biography is the smart, shrewd, and
inful W. Scott Poole. In The ains of Madness gives a
welcome accounting of Lovecraft's career but, importantly,
urgently, Poole also offers a new outlook on the women in
Lovecraft's life. His mother and wife, dismissed or vilified for
so long, are cast as some of his most essential supporters. What
a welcome new point of view this book offers about this issue and
so many others. What a wonderful testament to the lasting power
and influence of H.P. Lovecraft." ―Victor LaValle, author of The
Ballad of Black Tom
"As Poe was to the 20th century, Lovecraft is to the 21st, and
W. Scott Poole's book is his Horrible Holiness's Gospels, his
Revelations, and his Necronomicon, all in one, like some kind of
twisted trinity guiding us deep into the ains of madness."
―Grady Hendrix, author of My Best Friend's Exorcism
"Poole's grasp of Lovecraft's life is wide reaching and
impressive as is his understanding of Lovecraft's current place
within popular culture. Readers will find it impossible to ignore
Lovecraft after this." ―Carl Sederholm, author of The Age of
Lovecraft
"A fascinating journey of H. P. Lovecraft's visions of things to
come. The secret of Lovecraft revealed a page at a time. A must
read for all true fans of horror." ―Jonny Coffin, owner of Coffin
Case
Praise for Vampira
"W. Scott Poole has written a fascinating and illuminating
socio-sexual history of the last half decade of American Pop
Culture.…W. Scott Poole explores deftly and accurately the
history and the politics of both feminism and "the outsider," the
parts of America pushed to the curb but yearning for acceptance,
love, and financial success, the "new and shiny" promise of the
(supposed) post war era. Poole has done a great job in bringing
such a variety of disparate pieces into a singular whole, and
this book should be bought and read by anyone interested in the
unspoken history of Hollywood, and the darker story of our
culture." ―The Examiner
"A fascinating journey through 1950s America…this pioneering
book is a tribute to the change that Vampira incited and the
awakening that so many unknowingly received from her presence."
―Pasatiempo (Santa Fe)
"Poole is as concerned with the larger social changes afoot in
mid-century America and uses the Vampira narrative to approach
the second half of the 20th century from a fresh, and new
thought-provoking perspective...[Vampira] provides an interesting
and singular window into a time in the nation's past that can
hardly be over-examined, especially as so many of the battles
described are still being fought and it can often seem as if some
of the hard-won gains of the era are slowly being given up."
―Charleston City Paper
"Poole goes to great, and effective, lengths to identify the
attempts at social engineering that fostered specious notions of
maleness and femaleness in the name of governmental control and
selling the American dream. But the most impressive thing
(besides his impeccably researched historical in) is his
understanding of Nurmi and her character in that
context."―Delirium Magazine
"Finally, Poole lovingly gives Vampira her due." ―Booklist
(starred review)
"Before there was Dr. Morgus, Svengoolie, and Elvira, there was
the titular Vampira. This stone-cold winner belongs in every
American studies collection." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"Scott Poole has the chops, the Hollywood savvy, and the horror
genre's insider smarts to write a killer book on Vampira. I'll be
first in line to grab a copy." ―Jonathan Maberry, multiple Bram
Stoker Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of
Assassin's Code and Dust & Decay
"Horror hostess, bondage goddess, Charles Addams cartoon come to
life, Vampira was every first-generation fanboy's wet dream.
Scott Poole takes us on an unforgettable ride through the
overlapping underworlds of B+D magazines, Hollywood noir, and
early political liberation movements that inspired actress Maila
Nurmi to challenge a postwar culture bent on stifling women's,
choices, bodies, and desires. This book is a subversive
masterpiece." ―Sheri Holman, author of Witches on the Road
Tonight and The Dress Lodger
"W. Scott Poole's last book, Monsters in America, was a dazzling
work of cultural history: smart, funny, subversive and wildly
entertaining. He showed a special gift for playfully saying
serious things. His new book is even more wonderful. The life of
Maila Nurmi, better known as the late-night TV hostess Vampira,
is a great, strange story in itself, but also allows Poole to
explore our attitudes about sex, death, fear, and difference.
'The Lady of Horror' was famous in the 1950s, but she is a
remarkable symbol who connects backward to Poe and forward to
Goth. She is as American as the Statue of Liberty." ―Christopher
Bram, author of Gods and Monsters and Eminent Outlaws: The Gay
Writers Who Changed America
"Vampira is up there with Vincent Price for lovers of the
macabre, an icon whose shadow and influence lingers long after
death. She's not only important to modern children of the night
for being the first TV horror host, but as the original 'Glamour
Ghoul,' whose style has inspired generations of Goth Girls to
adopt the sexy undead look as their own. But there is more to her
story than her ability to look good screaming, and Scott Poole,
whose writing on the dark side of popular culture has proven to
be some of the smartest, sassiest commentary on American society
around, is the man to tell it." ―Liisa Ladouceur, author of
Encyclopedia Gothica
"An expert critic of pop culture, W. Scott Poole is one of the
finest historians of all that is wicked, salacious, and sexy in
America. By looking into the life and times of Maila Nurmi, the
former stripper turned television's dark goddess of sex and
death, Poole unveils a new side of midcentury America, which we
too often forget the steamy, y, and sensational." ―Edward J.
Blum author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga
of Race in America
"Vampira represents a way to talk about fifties culture,
especially about its political and moral pressures. Scott Poole
has shown how brilliantly he can unearth cultural fears and
desires." ―James R. Kincaid, author of Erotic Innocence
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About the Author
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W. SCOTT POOLE is a professor of history at the
College of Charleston who teaches and writes about horror and
popular culture. His past books include th award-winning Monsters
in America and the biography Vampira: Dark Goddess of Horror. He
is a Bram Stoker Award nominee for his critically accled
biography of H. P. Lovecraft, In the ains of Madness.
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