A sweeping and masterful cultural history, "Here's to My Sweet Satan" tells how the Occult conquered the American imagination, weaving together topics as diverse as the birth of heavy metal, 1970s horror films, the New Age movement, Count Chocula cereal, the serial killer Son of Sam, and more. Cultural critic George Case explores how the Occult craze permanently changed American society, creating the cultural framework for the political power of the...

Prepare yourself for the kind of fun that requires safety goggles as the team takes on tales of exploding pants, steam-powered machine guns, and jailbreak methods, and blasts a host of hoaxes to smithereens.

In his books and in a string of wide-ranging and inventive essays, Luc Sante has shown himself to be not only one of our pre-eminent stylists, but also a critic of uncommon power and range. Kill All Your Darlings is the first collection of Sante's articles, many of which first appeared in the New York Review of Books and the Village Voice. Sante is best known for his groundbreaking work in urban history (Low Life), and for a particularly penetrating...

"Keeping pace with contemporary Western culture's fascination with monsters, monster theory has attempted to explore the significance of monsters in different genre, media, and cultural contexts; complicating this project however has been the absence of a single volume collecting in one place central approaches and significant works. Monster Theory: A Reader will address this gap and bring together many of the scattered articles, essays, and book...

"Fads and trends: how do they start? Why do they spread? And how deep can their impact be? Although trends might seem trivial, if you dig deeper, you'll find that chasing the next big thing can have even bigger results. Established middle-grade author Kira Vermond and cartoonist Clayton Hanmer team up in this fun and accessible nonfiction look at fads. In four short chapters, the book explores what a fad is, how the latest crazes catch on, and what...

Presents a tour of Christmas holiday traditions from the original festival through today, touching on subjects ranging from gift wrap and the holiday parade to the first gag holiday gift book and the first official appearance of Santa Claus. "Nearly everything you know about Christmas is wrong. Do you think the proclaimed war on Christmas is a recent occurrence? Do you think Santa is Dutch, or that his red suit was brought to you courtesy of Coca-Cola?...

As certain to make you laugh as it will start friendly arguments, this book is the perfect book for know-it-alls, know-a-littles, and anyone with an opinion on celebrity mugshots, literary heroes, sports nicknames, or bacon. Bracketology is a unique way of organizing information that dates back to the rise of the knockout (or single elimination) tournament, perhaps in medieval times. Its origins are not precisely known, but there was genius in the...

Hark Morner, the unwitting guru behind "Mental Archery"--a combination of mindfulness, mythology, fake history, yoga, and archery -- is set to be raised to near-messiah status, a role for which he is woefully underprepared.

"Daniel Mallory Ortberg is known for blending genres, forms, and sources to develop fascinating new hybrids--from lyric rants to horror recipes to pornographic scripture. In his most personal work to date, he turns his attention to the essay, offering vigorous and laugh-out-loud funny accounts of both popular and highbrow culture while mixing in meditations on gender transition, family dynamics, and the many meanings of faith. From a thoughtful analysis...

"Life is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun. But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety; transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities. The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games. Play Anything, reveals...