VALE OF TEARS: ESSAYS ON RELIGION [Paperback]

Edward Blum (Editor), W. Scott Poole (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Mercer University Press (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865549877
• ISBN-13: 978-0865549876
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,074,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W. Scott Poole is the author of numerous books and articles on race, religion and popular culture in America.

His latest is _Monsters in America_ from Baylor University Press, forthcoming in October of 2011._Monsters_ explores the American fascination with vampires, zombies, serial killers and even sea serpents, showing how these creatures of our dark obsessions help us to understand the dark and forboding places in American history.

In 2009, Poole published _Satan in America: The Devil We Know__ (Rowman and Littlefield), a cultural history of the image of Satan in American religion, history and popular culture. This exciting work blends the study of horror films, comic books, religious texts and newspaper accounts of "satanic panics" into a highly readable analysis of the concept of the devil in American cultural history. Penn State folklorist Bill Ellis called the book "required reading for anyone who wants to understand the dark roots of America culture." In 2010, the book became available in paperback and in a Kindle edition.

Poole regularly writes book and film reviews for PopMatters.com, an international magazine of cultural criticism. He is currently writing a book about 1950s horror host and Ed Wood star "Vampira" that explores the history of American sexuality, gender relations and the rebirth of the gothic in post-WW2 America. Its a story that begins with the history of the dark lady of late night horror and branches out into a discussion of the Beats, Bebop Jazz, the birth of rock and roll and the social protest movements of the 1960s.

Poole is also an associate professor of History at the College of Charleston where he teaches courses on monsters in American history, Satan in folk belief and pop culture and the history of religion and race in American life .