New York largely stayed out of the witch trial hysteria that plagued much of New England in the seventeenth century. But nearly two centuries later, New York City was engaged in a different kind of witch hunt: cracking down on the working-class women who earned their bread as fortune tellers on the Lower East Side. This movement was led in large part by the journalists who entertained their readers by seeking out these women’s services only to write mocking, derisive articles about their experience in the papers. In Mortimer and the Witches, a new nonfiction book that came out earlier this year, historian and NYC tour guide Marie Carter interweaves the biography of one such journalist with a study of the fortune tellers whose livelihoods he so reviled. Continue reading Review of Mortimer and the Witches—Niche New York History
Tag: nonfiction
Review of A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe
Do we really need a new biography of Edgar Allan Poe, a man who has been continually talked about since his death nearly two centuries ago? It turns out—yes we do! There’s still plenty more to say about the father of modern horror. (And mystery. And true crime.) For one thing, we still don’t know exactly what caused Poe’s inexplicable death and the preceding three days of delirium in the city of Baltimore in 1849. For another, Poe’s image has loomed so large in pop culture that even what we can know about him has been largely obscured by stereotype, slander, and exaggeration. Mark Dawidziak sets out to shed some light on Poe’s shadowed life in his new biography, A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe, which came out back in February. Continue reading Review of A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe
Review of The Unknown—Algernon Blackwood Stories and Essays
Even the most celebrated of classic ghost story writers could use a bit of a boost to their visibility these days. British author Algernon Blackwood was essentially a celebrity in the early twentieth century. Revered for his contributions to the ghost story and weird fiction genres, he became a household name toward the end of his life when he shared his stories through popular radio and early television broadcasts. Today, he is best known for two stories in particular, “The Willows” and “The Wendigo.” But these two tales are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his prolific career of both fiction and nonfiction writing that spans almost half a century. Publisher Handheld Press and editor Henry Bartholomew seek to introduce a wider audience to the breadth of Blackwood’s talents with a new collection, The Unknown: Weird Writings, 1900–1937, which came out last week. Continue reading Review of The Unknown—Algernon Blackwood Stories and Essays
Review of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul
“America’s haunted history is Black history.” This is the premise of a new book by Leila Taylor, Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. A while back, I had the pleasure of attending her lecture on “The Afro-Gothic” at an event run by Morbid Anatomy. The presentation got me thinking about the Gothic in a whole new way, and I was eager for more information than what could fit in a one-hour talk. Luckily, Leila was in the process of writing this book, and now it’s finally out! Darkly, which came out just last week, examines the intersection of goth, the Gothic, and Blackness. Continue reading Review of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul
Review of Monster, She Wrote—A Comprehensive Compendium of Female Authors
Some members of the literary community always seem to express surprise and disbelief when they see women writing horror and speculative fiction books—and winning awards for them. Aren’t these genres predominantly the purview of men? Well, not really. Women have been there from the very beginning, and a compelling argument can even be made that these genres couldn’t exist without them. Scholars Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson do just that in Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror & Speculative Fiction. This exhaustive guide explores over one hundred female authors from the earliest days of speculative fiction to the present day. The book comes out tomorrow, September 17, and you do not want to miss it! Continue reading Review of Monster, She Wrote—A Comprehensive Compendium of Female Authors
Review of Mary Roach’s Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Is there life after death? This question has plagued humanity from its very beginnings, leading many people to find answers through philosophy, faith, or religion. But what if you could finally get a definitive answer through science? In Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Mary Roach explores the various historical figures and modern scientists who have tried to solve this age-old mystery and searches for some answers of her own. Spook is the second in her monosyllable series of science/humor books, and came on the heels of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, which I reviewed back in 2016. After how well she handled the macabre subject of Stiff, I knew I had to check this one out. Continue reading Review of Mary Roach’s Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Review of From Here to Eternity—Death Around the World
If you’re a fan of macabre content on Youtube, you’ve probably already come across Caitlin Doughty and her popular web series “Ask a Mortician.” In her videos, Caitlin combines absurd, witty humor with professional insight to answer viewers’ questions about death. Apart from being a Youtube star, Caitlin has also founded an organization called The Order of the Good Death, which aims to dismantle the cultural taboos we’ve built up around talking about the fate that awaits us all. In 2015, she published her first book—a memoir called Smoke Get in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory. You can read my glowing review of that book here. Now her highly anticipated second book has finally arrived, and it’s every bit as good as the first! From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death hits shelves tomorrow, October 3. You can also check Caitlin’s website to see if she’s doing any signings at the bookstores or cemeteries in your area. Continue reading Review of From Here to Eternity—Death Around the World
Review of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach is the one-stop book for everything you ever wanted to know—or never wanted to know—about dead bodies. I read this book on the recommendation of Caitlin Doughty, who’s memoir Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory I also thoroughly enjoyed. Like Doughty, Mary Roach has a pithy and dark sense of humor, although at times Roach comes off as a bit less sensitive. Unlike Doughty, Roach is not a native to the mortuary industry and related realms, approaching these sensitive topics from the inside. Instead she is a celebrated journalist, in the spotlight right now for her latest book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Both Stiff and Grunt, among several other books, are part of a sort of series of works—all given one-word titles with clever subtitles—in which Roach examines a particular topic in depth. I think next I’ll have to check out Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. Continue reading Review of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory–A Review
One of the things that makes goths special is that we are not afraid to look death in the face. We take special delight in exploring taboos, especially the taboo of death. The entire aesthetic of the gothic subculture reflects a time when people interacted heavily with death—specifically the Victorian era, with its elaborate mourning customs and associated wardrobe, art, and accoutrements. Unfortunately, much of mainstream American culture does not share our morbid proclivities. In fact, Americans seem to have become obsessed with shielding themselves as completely as possible from death and dying. We relegate death to the sanitized rooms of hospitals and allow funeral workers to whisk our loved ones away as soon as possible to be prepared for cremation or burial by total strangers. Did you know you can even order a cremation online and have your loved one picked up, cremated, and mailed back to you in an urn without ever interacting with a single human being or having to face any visual reminders of death?
Continue reading Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory–A Review