ghost stories, american

"From essays about the Salem witch trials to literary uses of ghosts by Twain, Wharton, and Bierce to the cinematic blockbuster "The Sixth Sense", this book is the first to survey the importance of ghosts and hauntings in American culture across time. From the Puritans' conviction that a thousand preternatural beings appear every day before our eyes, to today's resurgence of spirits in fiction and film, the culture of the United States has been obsessed with ghosts. this book asserts that ghosts, whether in oral tradition, literature, or such modern forms as cinema have always been constructions embedded in specific historical ontexts and invoked for explicit purposes, often poitical in nature"--Adapted from publisher description.

A collection of ghost stories with African American themes, designed to be told during the Dark Thirty--the half hour before sunset--when ghosts seem all too believable.

"The author of the acclaimed novel The Brief History of the Dead now gives us one hundred funny, poignant, scary, and thought-provoking ghost stories that explore all aspects of the afterlife. A spirit who appears in a law firm reliving the exact moment she lost her chance at love, a man haunted by the trees cut down to build his house, nefarious specters that snatch anyone who steps into the shadows in which they live, and parakeets that serve as mouthpieces for the dead--these are just a few of the characters Kevin Brockmeier presents in this extraordinary compendium of spectral emanations and their wildly various purposes in (after) life. These tales are by turns playful, chilling, and philosophical, paying homage to the genre while audaciously subverting expectations. The ghosts in these pages are certain to haunt you well after you've closed the book"--.

A collection of eleven ghost stories by popular British and American children's authors, including Susan Cooper, Matt Haig, Berlie Doherty, and Robin Jarvis.

A collection of ghost stories with African-American themes, designed to be told during the Dark Thirty--the half hour before sunset.

Includes 14 of the author's favorite ghost stories.

Contains sixteen original ghost stories, written specifically to be dark and disquieting, featuring selections by Ramsey Campbell, Tanith Lee, Sharyn McCrumb, and others.

A collection of ghost stories, including works by Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

A collection designed to be taken camping and read around the fire, containing ten scary short stories by such authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and Jack London.