Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween

Halloween has spread around the world, yet its associations with death and the supernatural as well as its inevitable commercialization have made it one of our most puzzling holidays. How did it become what it is today?

Trick or Treat is the first book both to examine the origins and history of Halloween and to explore in depth its current global popularity. Festivals like the Celtic Samhain and Catholic All Souls' Day have blended to produce the modern Halloween, which has been reborn with new customs in America--but there are also related but independent holidays, especially Mexico's Day of the Dead. Lisa Morton lifts the cobwebs off everything from the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions to the impact of events like the global economic recession, as well as the effect Halloween has had on popular culture through literary works, films, and television series.

Taking us on a journey from the spectacular to the macabre, this book is a treat for anyone who wants to peep behind the mask to see the real past and present of this ever more popular holiday.

Author: Lisa Morton
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: 09/12/2019
Pages: 232
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9781789141580
ISBN10: 1789141583
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Holidays (non religious)
- Social Science | Folklore & Mythology
- History | Social History

About the Author
Lisa Morton is an award-winning author and widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on Halloween. Her books include Ghosts: A Haunted History, also published by Reaktion Books, A Halloween Anthology: Literary and Historical Writings Over the Centuries, and The Halloween Encyclopedia. She lives in Los Angeles, California.