Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween in Nonfiction

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I adore Halloween. It’s by far my favorite holiday of the year for reasons ranging from my love of dressing up in costumes to the fact that candy corn finally becomes available again as we move closer to the end of October.

Today I wanted to share some books about the non-fiction side of this holiday and some of the things that have become so closely associated with it. I find the history and sociology of this stuff just as interesting as reading about spooky monsters, and I hope you will as well.

1. Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton. 

I live in a wonderfully diverse community that includes many people who have no cultural understanding of Halloween at all. It’s fascinating to see how they react to this holiday the first time they come across it. Things I think of as perfectly ordinary continue to surprise them for years to come. For example, the thought of knocking on a neighbour’s door and asking them for food is a common source of bewilderment for them.

2. Things in the Basement: A History of Halloween Horrors by John Lloyd Retzer.

Wow, this book covered a lot of ground. It’s something I’d recommend to anyone who is totally unfamiliar with this holiday and wants a basic overview of what it’s all about.

3. The Haunting of America: From Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini by Joel Martin. 

Believing in the paranormal sometimes can have unintended negative consequences for a community or nation. I liked the way this book framed this topic. It was full of compassion for everyone from the citizens of Salem to contemporary people whose beliefs in various supernatural things pushed them to do stuff they probably wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

4. Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan.

What a cool idea for a book! I’ve often wondered how certain legends were invented in the first place, especially when it comes to vampires. Knowing possible scientific explanations for what was really happening back then helps me understand why and how people misinterpreted what was going on with them so terribly.

5. The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton.

This was such an eye-opening read. I’d known that there were women (and a few men) who died violent deaths in the past after being accused of being witches, but I had no idea how widespread this practice actually was or why it began.
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6. The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror David J. Skal. 

If you’ve ever wondered by certain types of horror movies were wildly popular in certain eras, go read this book.

7. Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof by Roger Clarke.

With everything that’s changed for humans over the last century, it’s nice to see that this is one thing has remained constant for generations. Just about everyone enjoys a good ghost story now and again.

8. It Lives Again! : Horror Movies in the New Millennium by Axelle Carolyn. 

This book reminded me of just how far behind I am in watching modern horror films. I have a lot of catching up to do.

9. Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and Haunting by W. Scott Poole. 

I hope this author writes sequels about how monsters are viewed in other cultures. Every culture on Earth seems to have developed their own stories about various frightening creatures that are often based on the social mores at the time those tales were first created.

10. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night by Nicholas Rogers.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a history of Halloween that begins with its pagan origins and ends with how it is currently celebrated. This makes me wonder how the people who first came up with it would react to the ways it is observed today.

Happy Halloween from everyone at Long and Short Reviews!