Buy new:
$42.57
FREE delivery: Monday, April 22
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: Positive Tutors
FREE Returns
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$42.57 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$42.57
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
$4.89 delivery Wednesday, April 24. Details
Used: Acceptable | Details
Sold by happycustomers
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comment: Foxing along top of page edges, otherwise reads well. Ships same or next business day.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Other Sellers on Amazon
Added
$42.46
& FREE Shipping. Details
Sold by: srwilson62
Sold by: srwilson62
(8995 ratings)
100% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Added
$42.56
& FREE Shipping. Details
Sold by: sky falcons
Sold by: sky falcons
(2 ratings)
100% positive over last 12 months
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Shipping rates and Return policy
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Screams of Reason: Mad Science in Modern Culture Hardcover – January 1, 1998

3.4 out of 5 stars 10

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$42.57","priceAmount":42.57,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"42","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"57","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"MSpv1O8aH004jIvUiGtLnI7fknjMpfxOpMI30YWO6fpYoeqSeiDQC4s%2FHQWWwa17oLp1g6Fklxpvh6t2rX6pg0Sqar2GwiqcmX4RfYMb2MOysCGVSFkynkuDUf5RF1aIyRSjE9Wjmd%2BvFY5K1qOX7er8uK68D9RjkCBcW55j8iJXMD9r%2BoYKid8RvqO7EypK","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$29.00","priceAmount":29.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"MSpv1O8aH004jIvUiGtLnI7fknjMpfxOryXkxn%2FJUNvj7uG07B%2B7E5q2%2FoaArZ%2FMI2n7P7s68r072zme7i11obmpb9MLmP%2Bh%2FqUzwAhzqEzELVDBpPj9t0AAExxt9OyX8xLGKKJP04fN0BsC%2FKdlsR8tfyrwU1Vuge3PSS4EVR4%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons


The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

$42.46
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 23
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by srwilson62 and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
$13.49
Get it as soon as Monday, Apr 22
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
One of these items ships sooner than the other.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The words "mad scientist" inevitably summon up the picture of a deranged, obsessive individual with a lab coat and bad hair, working on some grandiose project that probably means trouble for humanity at large. Behind this cartoonish figure, however, lurks a complex series of ideas, emotions, stereotypes, and archetypes. In Screams of Reason: Mad Science and Modern Culture, David J. Skal investigates the whole issue of "our multilevel cultural waltz with the maniac in the lab coat" over the last two centuries.

The first few chapters focus on the origins of the mad-science mentality in the early 19th century. The age of Darwin and the Industrial Revolution saw the birth of many of the stock figures and themes of horror and science fiction: Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, Dr. Moreau; creation of new life forms, contravention of natural law, science out of control. Then, in the early 20th century, the new medium of film helped make all of these into staples of popular culture. Succeeding chapters deal with types and trends in the mad-science phenomenon, touching on a variety of subjects, such as the classic horror movies of the 1930s, nuclear-age mutation and invasion fantasies, medical horror, the union of man and machine, apocalyptic entertainment, and "Alien Chic."

Movies certainly play a significant role in the whole mad-science phenomenon; Screams, however, is much more than a catalog of the classic horror and sci-fi entries. Skal's insightful, eloquent history gets at the psychological and social roots of our uneasy relationship with science and technology, and our attempts to master the fear of them.

Screams includes abundant notes, many black-and-white illustrations, and an appendix listing dozens of mad scientists from popular culture. Highly recommended. --M.V. Burke

From Publishers Weekly

Art imitates life, which imitates art in this witty and knowing exploration of "mad science" and modern culture. The demonic scientist of pulp novels, B movies, and comic books is extraordinarily popular, says Skal (Hollywood Gothic; The Monster Show), because he "serve[s] as a lightning rod for otherwise unbearable anxieties about the meaning of scientific thinking and the uses and consequences of modern technology." Skal ranges from Victor Frankenstein to Dr. Moreau, from Dr. Jekyll to Dr. Frank N. Furter of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in his entertaining analysis. The author is equally at home with Hollywood trivia and with postmodern cultural analysis?which identifies a gay subtext in horror films and finds the evocation of an "all-male reproductive paradigm" in the Bride of Frankenstein monster's deep forehead scar (a symbolic vulva!). Skal shows how cultural anxieties about race, gender and class roles, technological changes, economic depression and threats of war found their way into horror classics. Of particular interest are Skal's views on UFO sightings?which he finds always correlate with periods of intense social unrest?and "mad medicine" as seen in such works as Coma and Silence of the Lambs (he sees Hannibal Lecter as "an inevitable... iconic representation" of the perceived greed of big medicine in the HMO era). Skal even associates the recent spate of blockbuster invasion fantasies with fear of AIDS. Though Skal's analysis sometimes lacks sufficient depth, it is always fresh, hip and lively. The book is illustrated with 100 well-chosen photos and period illustrations.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W W Norton & Co Inc; First Edition (January 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 039304582X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393045826
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.84 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.4 out of 5 stars 10

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
David J. Skal
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
3.4 out of 5
10 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2017
2 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2017
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2004
8 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2002
4 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2000
9 people found this helpful
Report