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Wasteland
- The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
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Wasteland
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Summary
Historian and Bram Stoker Award nominee W. Scott Poole traces the confluence of history, technology, and art that gave us modern horror films and literature.
In the early 20th century, World War I was the most devastating event humanity had yet experienced. New machines of war left tens of millions killed or wounded in the most grotesque of ways. The Great War remade the world's map, created new global powers, and brought forth some of the biggest problems still facing us today. But it also birthed a new art form: the horror film, made from the fears of a generation ruined by war.
From Nosferatu to Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man, from Fritz Lang, F. W. Murnau and Albin Grau to Tod Browning and James Whale, the touchstones of horror can all trace their roots to the bloodshed of the First World War. Historian W. Scott Poole chronicles these major figures and the many movements they influenced. Wasteland reveals how bloody battlefields, the fear of the corpse, and a growing darkness made their way into the deepest corners of our psyche.
On the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that brought World War I to a close, W. Scott Poole takes us behind the front lines of battle to a no-man's-land where the legacy of "the War to End All Wars" lives on.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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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
- Matthew Trow
- 27-07-20
Corpses, Death Dolls and Puppets
Unflinching and incredibly thorough account, just when you think he has missed something it appears in more detail than you could have hoped for. spice up your reading by taking a drink every time corpse, doll and puppet is mentioned.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 07-09-21
A fascinating work with significant downsides
While undoubtedly a unique and interesting work, the author's heavy handed, and often unnecessary, political opinions combined with his unashamed bias against HP Lovecraft, whom he neglects certain of his changing beliefs, takes his work out of context and blatantly get aspects wrong (The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is proof he did write a novel), makes for a read that becomes particularly grating as the book continues. His prejudice against Lovecraft and general limitations in understanding/presenting early 20th century horror literature makes one wonder firstly how reliable he is during the rest of the book and secondly whether he is willfully leaving out certain details which would make for a more complete overview or just didn't care. An additional annoyance too is author's politics intruding too much to be considered an attempt at balanced history. While truly unbiased writing is impossible, at least an attempt would have been appreciated.
As for the the narration, he is overall a strong narrator, though he makes significant pronunciation errors are often enraging. Standouts would include "Machen", "Paschendale" and "Verdun" that makes one grit their teeth with each utterance.
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2 people 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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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nigel G.
- 25-02-22
Very well put together!
Despite not being quite what I expected (it was much more like an ultra long or series of academic essays, rather than a ‘book’ per-se), this was a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Well referenced, informative, entertaining and full of little snippets of strange facts/anecdotes. Highly recommended for film, horror or early-to-mid twentieth century war-history fans obviously. That said it would also appeal greatly to those interested in the birth of cinema, film politics or book fiends of all sorts. Go for it - you won’t regret it, it thoroughly changed my view on many historical events, books, films, art and iconic figures. Some for the better and others... not so much.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Arnie Ward
- 06-10-22
Overwrought
I have served and seen the bodies piled up (most people try put that out of their mind) but this analysis goes too far in its connection between the horrors of trench warfare inspiring the origins of the horror movie genre. It becomes objectionable, stretching the link and I gave up half way through. War is terrible but horror movies are popular (and profitable) entertainment.
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