American Monster


Book Description

Every hero has an origin story where he slays the monsters and gets the girl. Mine is a cautionary tale. I am the monster, and I watch the woman I love die over and over again. I was born an orphan and a legend with my first breath. My silver spoon was replaced with an iron blade, and my wealth with a bounty on my head. I lived in the shadows, lurking amongst the bastards and the beggars with no moral compass to guide me as I stumbled through life, carrying the heavy burden of my past in secrecy. The few who dared to speak my name knew me as Justus Beiste – just beast. I was untamable and bowed to no man or God, ruled only by my desires. But the one thing I craved most, I could never have, for fear she too would fall victim to my curse. This isn’t a love story. This is a tragedy played out in endless acts, spanning countless lives. Still, I would follow her across centuries, my soul tethered to hers, protecting her from those who came before us, until I succumbed to bloodlust and broke our ties or bonded us together forever.




All-American Monster


Book Description

The serenity of America's heartland was shattered on the morning of April 19, 1995, when a massive explosion leveled one side of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. In this riviting and revealing biography of Timothy McVeigh, the author explores McVeigh's childhood, his education, military service, and his efforts to find meaning in his life. Photo insert.




American Monster


Book Description

It was huge, a ferocious carnivore capable of catching deer and elk with its long trunk and crushing them in its giant grinders. It lived right there in the Hudson River Valley. And no place else in the world had anything to match it. Such were the thoughts about the first complete mastodon skeleton excavated in 1801, before dinosaurs were discovered and the notion of geologic time acquired currency. Oregon- based natural historian Semonin traces the evangelical beliefs, Englightenment thought, and Indian myths about the extinct creatures from 1705 through US independence. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




American Monsters


Book Description

From pre-Columbian legends to modern-day eyewitness accounts, this comprehensive guide covers the history, sightings and lore surrounding the most mysterious monsters in America—including Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and more. Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and thunderbirds aren’t just figments of our overactive imaginations—according to thousands of eyewitnesses, they exist, in every corner of the United States. Throughout America’s history, shocked onlookers have seen unbelievable creatures of every stripe—from sea serpents to apelike beings, giant bats to monkeymen—in every region. Author, investigator, and creature expert Linda S. Godfrey brings the same fearless reporting she lent to Real Wolfmen to this essential guide, using historical record, present-day news reports, and eyewitness interviews to examine this hidden menagerie of America’s homegrown beasts.




Monsters in America


Book Description

Monsters are here to stay.--Christopher James Blythe "Journal of Religion and Popular Culture"




North American Monsters


Book Description

Mining a mountain of folklore publications, North American Monsters unearths decades of notable monster research. Nineteen folkloristic case studies from the last half-century examine legendary monsters in their native habitats, focusing on ostensibly living creatures bound to specific geographic locales. A diverse cast of scholars contemplate these alluring creatures, feared and beloved by the communities that host them—the Jersey Devil gliding over the Pine Barrens, Lieby wriggling through Lake Lieberman, Char-Man stalking the Ojai Valley, and many, many more. Embracing local stories, beliefs, and traditions while neither promoting nor debunking, North American Monsters aspires to revive scholarly interest in local legendary monsters and creatures and to encourage folkloristic monster legend sleuthing.




American Monsters


Book Description

From pre-Columbian legends to modern-day eyewitness accounts, this comprehensive guide covers the history, sightings and lore surrounding the most mysterious monsters in America—including Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and more. Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and thunderbirds aren’t just figments of our overactive imaginations—according to thousands of eyewitnesses, they exist, in every corner of the United States. Throughout America’s history, shocked onlookers have seen unbelievable creatures of every stripe—from sea serpents to apelike beings, giant bats to monkeymen—in every region. Author, investigator, and creature expert Linda S. Godfrey brings the same fearless reporting she lent to Real Wolfmen to this essential guide, using historical record, present-day news reports, and eyewitness interviews to examine this hidden menagerie of America’s homegrown beasts.




Rage on the Right


Book Description

Rage on the Right examines the rise, fall, and reemergence of the militia/alt-right movement from the 1990s through 2018. Using the lenses of history, culture, ideology, and social movement theory Crothers explores the diverse ways contemporary right-wing social movements have used American social and economic context to build themselves into a potent force in American political life. Just as the 1990s militia movement drew life from deeply embedded values and myths central to American political culture and political history, so, too, do the contemporary militia and alt-right movements. Right-wing social movements are as American as apple pieand must be understood as a core and enduring component of American political life. Ideal for undergraduate courses on social movements, political violence, and contemporary political history, this text explores the cultural rootedness of the militia and alt-right in America while also understanding the ways contemporary politics build on historical legacies to promote right wing populism in the United States. Highlights Traces the evolution of the militia and alt-right movements in the United States since the 1990s Situates right-wing populism in its cultural and ideological position in American politics Examines interaction of key events in the history of the militia and alt-right movements in the US with actions of entrepreneurial movement leaders and supporters in government and society Links the rise of the Donald Trump as candidate and president to the (re)emergence of the militia and the alt-right in the United States




Prehistoric Monsters


Book Description

Over centuries, discoveries of fossil bones spawned legends of monsters such as giants and dragons. As the field of earth sciences matured during the 19th century, early fossilists gained understanding of prehistoric creatures such as Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops and Stegosaurus. This historical study examines how these genuine beasts morphed in the public imagination into mythical, powerful engines of destruction and harbingers of cataclysm, taking their place in popular culture, film, and literature as symbols of "lost worlds" where time stands still.




Kentucky Rising


Book Description

Kentucky's first settlers brought with them a dedication to democracy and a sense of limitless hope about the future. Determined to participate in world progress in science, education, and manufacturing, Kentuckians wanted to make the United States a great nation. They strongly supported the War of 1812, and Kentucky emerged as a model of patriotism and military spirit. Kentucky Rising: Democracy, Slavery, and Culture from the Early Republic to the Civil War offers a new synthesis of the sixty years before the Civil War. James A. Ramage and Andrea S. Watkins explore this crucial but often overlooked period, finding that the early years of statehood were an era of great optimism and progress. Drawing on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Ramage and Watkins demonstrate that the eyes of the nation often focused on Kentucky, which was perceived as a leader among the states before the Civil War. Globally oriented Kentuckians were determined to transform the frontier into a network of communities exporting to the world market and dedicated to the new republic. Kentucky Rising offers a valuable new perspective on the eras of slavery and the Civil War. This book is a copublication with the Kentucky Historical Society.