A review by christytidwell
On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

1.0

I am so disappointed in this book. Not only is not what I expected when I ordered it but it is bad. It rambles, lacks a clear argument, reiterates a lot of stuff that is already widely available elsewhere, sets up straw man arguments about postmodernism (which seems rather off-topic for a book about monsters), includes way too many endnotes that distract from the main body of the text, lacks a cohesive style or tone (sometimes condescending and overexplaining and sometimes forgoing explanation of complicated or unfamiliar terminology altogether), and, for no good reason, casually reinforces gender stereotypes (Men are heroes who fight monsters because this narrative of the monster-killing hero is something that all fathers who want to protect their children identify with; boys play video games and invent play narratives that are about monsters--where do the girls and women fit into this? One mention of Ripley from Alien isn't going to cut it, especially when most mentions of women in the book are to show them as the monsters themselves (e.g., Medea, Susan Smith, witches, Grendel's mom) or as victims).

I began the book expecting to enjoy it and my estimation of it gradually decreased as I read. The first half of the book is somewhat interesting if you are not already familiar with the material he covers, but otherwise I recommend skipping it.