Kaplan, Matt

Drawing on more science than Stephen T. Asma’s On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, this cultural history is ideal for skeptical readers or those who enjoy small but sweeping histories. While some of Kaplan’s conjectures about the origins of monster folklore are farfetched, the book introduces many questions that readers will find valuable to the study of what people fear and why they fear it.—Erin Shea, Darien Lib., CT