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American Monsters
- Narrated by: Adam Jortner
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
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American Monsters
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Summary
Cackling witches in Puritan communities calling forth Satan. Sea serpents squirming along coasts to snack on bathers. Ape creatures slinking through forests and leaving behind mysterious footprints.
In America, tall tales of monsters walking among us have existed for hundreds of years. Real or fictional, human or inhuman, monsters and other terrors directly reflect the events within American culture. As a society changes, its anxiety changes - and its monsters change as well. Thus, any confrontation with America’s monsters is, in truth, a confrontation with the history of fear in America.
Grab a flashlight and go monster-hunting in the safe company of Adam Jortner, award-winning professor of religion at Auburn University, with the 10 eerie and illuminating episodes of American Monsters. You’ll encounter chilling tales of living houses, sentient plants, psychotic toys, brain-eating zombies, and otherworldly beings whose mere name is enough to drive people insane. Along the way, you’ll learn how monster stories change how Americans think and what Americans do, how they shape the history of our country, and what secrets about human nature these inhuman monsters can share.
American monsters are mythical, but in many ways monster stories are frighteningly real. The most terrifying thing about them: what they reveal about the monsters within us.
What listeners say about American Monsters
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Miriam/Vincent
- 13-11-23
Very informative lecture.
I absolutely loved this lecture, so many more novels to read, due to it, and an educator viewpoint of the history of monster stories.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- JOD
- 10-10-22
Monster Documentary
This was interesting and informative but I think it could have been better with more popular monsters.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jakk54
- 01-02-23
A fascinating series of essays.
Adam did a great job here, both with the essays themselves and some pretty solid narration, too. I was intrigued by so much that I knew nothing about, such as the fact that the Roswell claims went back to the 40s but did not actually emerge until the 80s. I appreciated the equality theme emerging and the elements where Jack talks about the under-representation and abuse of black characters. It could also be interesting to think about other examples of diversity, such as disabled characters, those with autism and other learning difficulties, and so on, which are either rarely represented or misrepresented (the portrayal of schizophrenia in Psycho, for instance, was completely wrong - schizophrenics are more likely to harm themselves than others). He does remark on gender issues, too, which I appreciated. Great work, Jack.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bumblebae
- 31-10-22
Had weird dreams after this
I was listening to this before bed then fell asleep listening to it and weird dreams. Recommend.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ms. E. Morgan
- 08-08-23
Very interesting analysis of American horror and monsters
Very interesting analysis of American horror and monsters. I noticed a couple of inaccuracies in the text but it does detract from the enjoyment.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-11-22
Thoroughly interesting
I really enjoyed this audio book which is a series of lectures about monsters in American. It’s a light read for any supernatural devotee. My only tiny issue was the discussion around the Yellow Wallpaper, this is a very important feminist piece of literature and the lecturer of the audiobook included the work as one of many stories about monsters - and specifically ‘who is the monster’. In Perkins’ book the monster is the patriarchal hold upon women that society has. I feel this was overlooked but other than that I really enjoyed it and gave me a really great insight into American culture.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Otaiba Sheikh
- 27-01-23
Very Educational
Was a wonderfully informative journey through the history of American Monsters. It touches on books, film, historical texts and holds a cultural mirror to it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Badger
- 04-01-22
Excellent
Thoroughly enjoyed this, it is engaging and informative. We’ll produced and learned some new things!
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- crystal chris
- 02-11-22
Awful
Couldn’t listen to this for longer than second part. So boring just had to stop listening.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- P. Pensom
- 31-05-22
Entertaining but infuriating
This set of lectures were in part stimulating, but also infuriating. Adam Jortner comes across as a likeable and engaging essayist, but I think that American academics simply don't realise quite how hyper-racialised their discourse has become in recent years. Some of his points regarding race are pertinent and well made, but viewing everything through such a lens is tiresome in the extreme. Jortner is far more interesting when he allows himself to break free of contemporary orthodoxy and eschew the constant pigeon-holing necessary for sustaining such a worldview.
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3 people found this helpful