Monster Mash: The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America 1957-1972 Hardcover – Illustrated, July 21, 2015

This is a great book

Tons of old school photos. Well put together. I have this in my book collection not just on kindle 😀

BOTTOM LINE: This book reads a lot like an old issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS, which, I suppose, was probably the intent of the author. It covers a wide variety of aspects related to the 'Monster Boom' which delighted legions of kids (and horrified their concerned parents) for almost two decades. While it doesn't go into great depth on any one particular subject, it does a fine job of giving casual monster fans a pretty good overview of the various ways in which the creepy creature craze wormed its way into the hearts & minds of Baby Boomers (and early Gen-Xers) during their critical formative years. It's a breezy read at under 200 pages, only about 40% of which is text. The remaining pages are jam-packed with hundreds of black & white and full-color photos, many of them full-page. Oldsters who grew up during this period will have a lot of great childhood memories stirred up while perusing within these pages. And, since there's nothing too gruesome inside, it's pretty safe for younger readers who may be curious about what Dad (and Grandpa) found "cool" when they were young 'uns.THOUGHTS: As with any book that attempts to cover a wide spectrum of sub-topics within a specific genre, certain chapters will likely be more appealing to some readers than others. I found the Ed "Big Daddy" Roth stuff especially interesting, along with the brief overview of the Aurora monster modeling madness (and the army of cheap knock-offs it spawned). Physically, the book itself is fairly large (approx 11.5" x 9" x .75"), with a sturdy hardcover, and it's printed on medium weight matte finish paperstock. The photo reproduction is excellent and the print is razor sharp as well. After reading this, I was inspired to do a little digging and bone up on some of the lesser-known (to me) aspects of the Monster Craze, of which I happily stumbled across in its final fading years. I found MONSTER MASH: THE CREEPY, KOOKY MONSTER CRAZE IN AMERICA to be an excellent purchase, well worth the $20 or so bucks I paid for it. I can whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who loves monsters. 4 STARS

Mark Voger is certainly not the best writer or researcher; then again, MONSTER MASH never claims to be a "comprehensive" volume on ANY aspect of the "Monster Craze" lasting roughly from 1957 to 1972...(and I would argue, beyond.) With that said, any true "monster kid" of the era will not be disappointed; not in Mark's writing, not in the beautiful production from Two Morrows publishing, certainly not in the 'mini-interviews' throughout the book with artists, writers and actors of that time, including conversations with Forrest Ackerman and James Warren. This is a love letter to our childhood -- for every adult who carried their love of monsters from then until now. Mark's style is breezy and conversational. Giving the reader a look into his own VERY personal childhood memories -- sometimes light-hearted, perhaps a bit corny, with some editorializing in between -- it's easy to roll your eyes and dismiss many of Mark's obviously personal comments...unless one has their OWN stories regarding that time as it relates to all things "monster". Then, it is simply like a conversation with an old friend. Us Monster Kids have our own tales to tell. Mark Voger has given us a book containing not only his tales, but a wealth of common nostalgia to which we all can relate, complete with some fantastic pictures, insider information and an overwhelming sense of respect and deep love for all things MONSTER. Highly recommended!

This gets five stars for everything: Clear writing, great visual design, good sense of history, fine images and solid overall production. I can keep this review short and sweet, because this nice-looking, fun-reading book is an absolute joy for any serious monster fan. Mark Voger details the history of the Monster Craze--its inception, the influences that affected it, the artists and products who fed it and kept it going, the public's response to it (and the public's creation of it--everything popular is created by audience demand), various popular shows, toys and people who were the virtual figureheads for it, and subsequent cultural transformations of it into other similar but perhaps less-inspired things. If you like monster movies, books, toys, games, shows or anything else they make with spooky, scary monsters as the main ingredient, well, there's a darn good chance you'll get a kick out of this book. A lot of people these days merely market; they pick an audience and create a "sausage" (to use a polite term) they can quickly sell to that audience--they make their buck, and then proceed to spend it and laugh. Mark Voger has done the opposite here: With a clear focus on quality, and on satisfying and respecting the audience (as well as giving it some credit for being quasi-intelligent), Voger has created a brilliant chronology and obsessively researched it, checking his facts all the way. This here is the book that DESERVES to be on your shelf, in my opinion. So take a look at all those green colors on the cover, interpret that as meaning "GO," and grab yourself one of these. Chances are good you'll revisit this book a lot, I think.

Very good book, written by someone with an obvious passion for the subject.

This book was a delight from start to finish. extremely informative and interesting lovely pictures and covers just about anything and everything you could possibly want to know. Do yourself a favor and check out this authors Christmas book. It is my absolute favorite

I can't say enough about this book! Mark Voger hit a home run out of the park with this one! If you grew up during the monster era from the late '50s into the '70s than this book covers all the bases and more. I learned so much about the history of icons from the ear from Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine to the Munsters, Addams Family, and so much more. Even Batman made an appearance as well as rock stars like Rob Zombie. When you have a book that contains much loved horror host Zacherley, the Flintstones' Weirdly Gruesome, Bela Lugosi, Basil Gogos, Barnabas Collins, and Gene Simmons. than there's no way you can go wrong as a classic horror fan.

What a fantastic book! It's well written but I think the star of the book is most definitely the subject matter and artwork chosen. I love the unusual paper quality (not glossy) that just soaks up the colors and reminds me of the old Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. I also love the use of artwork that bleeds to the edges of the pages with very few squarely laid out pages with white borders. A hardcover worthy of anyone's coffee table who loves media monsters that are either horrific or kitschy.

Though I'm too young to have been present for the hey-day of the monster craze, I nevertheless have grown up loving the old movies, tv shows and toys that were part of and inspired the seemingly un-ending love of monsters and creeps that we have. Can't say enough good about this book if you're into this sort of thing. I bought it on a whim and was pleasantly surprised at how well put together and researched it was.