Monsters
Third Edition ©2025 Andrew J. Hoffman Formats: E-book, Print
As low as $19.99
As low as $19.99
Authors
-
Andrew J. Hoffman
Andrew J. Hoffman is a Professor of English at San Diego Mesa College, where he teaches courses in grammar, composition, and British Literature. He received his B.A. in English from the University of California at Irvine and his M.A. from Syracuse University. He is the author of Monsters, part of the Bedford Spotlight series, and has contributed to The Arlington Reader, Fourth Edition. In addition, he has authored, edited, or otherwise contributed to numerous other textbooks of grammar, composition, and rhetoric, in both traditional and online formats.
Table of Contents
[[*Indicates new selection]]
Introduction for Students
Chapter 1: Why Do We Create Monsters?
Stephen King, Why We Crave Horror Movies
Mary Shelley, from Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus
Susan Tyler Hitchcock, Conception
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, Why Vampires Never Die
Chuck Klosterman, My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead
Peter H. Brothers, Japan’s Nuclear Nightmare: How the Bomb Became a Beast Called Godzilla
*Scott O. Moore, The Momo Challenge and the Intersection of Contemporary Legend and Moral Panic
Stephen T. Asma, Monsters and the Moral Imagination
Chapter 2: How Do Monsters Reflect Their Times?
Ted Genoways, Here Be Monsters
Daniel Cohen, The Birth of Monsters
*Anonymous, from Beowulf [[*new excerpt]]
*Edward T. C. Werner, Myths of the Waters
*Basil Johnston, Weendigo
Matt Kaplan, Cursed by a Bite
W. Scott Poole, Monstrous Beginnings
*Iikura Kimie, Japanese Urban Legends from “The Slit-Mouthed Woman” to “Kisaragi Station”
*Bruce Sterling, AI is the Scariest Beast Ever Created
Chapter 3: How Does Gender Affect the Monster?
Amy Fuller, The Evolving Legend of La Llorona
Bram Stoker, from Dracula
*Sarah Stang, Shrieking, Biting, and Licking: The Monstrous-Feminine in Video Games
Sophia Kingshill, Reclaiming the Mermaid
*Jalondra A. Davis, Magic, Mermaids, and the Middle Passage: On Natasha Bowen’s Skin of the Sea
*Gary Morris, Sexual Subversion: The Bride of Frankenstein
Carol J. Clover, Final Girl
Jack Halberstam, Bodies that Splatter: Queers and Chainsaws
Chapter 4: What is the Power of the Monster?
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire
*Daniel Loxton, The Howling Horror of Werewolves!
*Kiley Fox, Noppera Bo and the Fear of Nothingness
Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
*Rodrigo Silva Guedes, Jeykll and Hyde: The Monster as a Metaphor
*Adam Chitwood, A Quiet Place Monsters Explained by John Krasinski
Christian Jarrett, The Lure of Horror
Chapter 5: Is the Monster within Us?
Adolf Hitler, Nation and Race
Patrick McCormick, Why Modern Monsters Have Become Alien to Us
*Fay Onyx, Ridding Your Monsters of Ableism
Anne E. Schwartz, Inside a Murdering Mind
William Andrew Myers, Ethical Aliens: The Challenge of Extreme Perpetrators to Humanism
*Mary Retta, The Unexpected Power of Seeing Yourself as the Villain
*Judith Clemens-Smucker, Stranger Teens: Eleven Transforms the Monstrous Symbolism of Adolescence through a Contemporary Narrative Arc
Kevin Berger, Why We Still Need Monsters
Product Updates
Reading Selections from Diverse Areas of Study
The 3rd edition showcases texts from a variety of sources, from classic literature, peer-reviewed academic journals, and graduate dissertations, to interviews, a cartoon, book and film reviews, and blog postings.
Expanded Coverage of Monsters and Identity
The 15 new readings represent a range of genres, subject matter, and voices, including:
- Discussions of gender, sexuality, race, religion, disability, and more in Chapter 3, “How Does Gender Affect the Monster?,” and throughout the book
- A broader array of author identities and backgrounds for fresh and diverse perspectives
- Readings like Basil Johnston’s “Weendigo” and Edward T.C. Werner’s “Myths of the Waters,” which explore historial monsters from various cultures around the world
Updated Themes and Social Commentary
New topics relevant to media and pop culture, such as current films and TV shows and the rise in artificial intelligence, offer expanded opportunities for considering the monster. Notable readings include:
- Scott O. Moore, “The Momo Challenge and the Intersection of Contemporary Legend and Moral Panic”
- Bruce Sterling, “AI is the Scariest Beast Ever Created”
- Judith Clemens-Smucker, “Stranger Teens: Eleven Transforms the Monstrous Symbolism of Adolescence through a Contemporary Narrative Arc”
Adam Chitwood, “A Quiet Place Monsters Explained by John Krasinski”
Authors
-
Andrew J. Hoffman
Andrew J. Hoffman is a Professor of English at San Diego Mesa College, where he teaches courses in grammar, composition, and British Literature. He received his B.A. in English from the University of California at Irvine and his M.A. from Syracuse University. He is the author of Monsters, part of the Bedford Spotlight series, and has contributed to The Arlington Reader, Fourth Edition. In addition, he has authored, edited, or otherwise contributed to numerous other textbooks of grammar, composition, and rhetoric, in both traditional and online formats.
Table of Contents
[[*Indicates new selection]]
Introduction for Students
Chapter 1: Why Do We Create Monsters?
Stephen King, Why We Crave Horror Movies
Mary Shelley, from Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus
Susan Tyler Hitchcock, Conception
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, Why Vampires Never Die
Chuck Klosterman, My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead
Peter H. Brothers, Japan’s Nuclear Nightmare: How the Bomb Became a Beast Called Godzilla
*Scott O. Moore, The Momo Challenge and the Intersection of Contemporary Legend and Moral Panic
Stephen T. Asma, Monsters and the Moral Imagination
Chapter 2: How Do Monsters Reflect Their Times?
Ted Genoways, Here Be Monsters
Daniel Cohen, The Birth of Monsters
*Anonymous, from Beowulf [[*new excerpt]]
*Edward T. C. Werner, Myths of the Waters
*Basil Johnston, Weendigo
Matt Kaplan, Cursed by a Bite
W. Scott Poole, Monstrous Beginnings
*Iikura Kimie, Japanese Urban Legends from “The Slit-Mouthed Woman” to “Kisaragi Station”
*Bruce Sterling, AI is the Scariest Beast Ever Created
Chapter 3: How Does Gender Affect the Monster?
Amy Fuller, The Evolving Legend of La Llorona
Bram Stoker, from Dracula
*Sarah Stang, Shrieking, Biting, and Licking: The Monstrous-Feminine in Video Games
Sophia Kingshill, Reclaiming the Mermaid
*Jalondra A. Davis, Magic, Mermaids, and the Middle Passage: On Natasha Bowen’s Skin of the Sea
*Gary Morris, Sexual Subversion: The Bride of Frankenstein
Carol J. Clover, Final Girl
Jack Halberstam, Bodies that Splatter: Queers and Chainsaws
Chapter 4: What is the Power of the Monster?
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire
*Daniel Loxton, The Howling Horror of Werewolves!
*Kiley Fox, Noppera Bo and the Fear of Nothingness
Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
*Rodrigo Silva Guedes, Jeykll and Hyde: The Monster as a Metaphor
*Adam Chitwood, A Quiet Place Monsters Explained by John Krasinski
Christian Jarrett, The Lure of Horror
Chapter 5: Is the Monster within Us?
Adolf Hitler, Nation and Race
Patrick McCormick, Why Modern Monsters Have Become Alien to Us
*Fay Onyx, Ridding Your Monsters of Ableism
Anne E. Schwartz, Inside a Murdering Mind
William Andrew Myers, Ethical Aliens: The Challenge of Extreme Perpetrators to Humanism
*Mary Retta, The Unexpected Power of Seeing Yourself as the Villain
*Judith Clemens-Smucker, Stranger Teens: Eleven Transforms the Monstrous Symbolism of Adolescence through a Contemporary Narrative Arc
Kevin Berger, Why We Still Need Monsters
Product Updates
Reading Selections from Diverse Areas of Study
The 3rd edition showcases texts from a variety of sources, from classic literature, peer-reviewed academic journals, and graduate dissertations, to interviews, a cartoon, book and film reviews, and blog postings.
Expanded Coverage of Monsters and Identity
The 15 new readings represent a range of genres, subject matter, and voices, including:
- Discussions of gender, sexuality, race, religion, disability, and more in Chapter 3, “How Does Gender Affect the Monster?,” and throughout the book
- A broader array of author identities and backgrounds for fresh and diverse perspectives
- Readings like Basil Johnston’s “Weendigo” and Edward T.C. Werner’s “Myths of the Waters,” which explore historial monsters from various cultures around the world
Updated Themes and Social Commentary
New topics relevant to media and pop culture, such as current films and TV shows and the rise in artificial intelligence, offer expanded opportunities for considering the monster. Notable readings include:
- Scott O. Moore, “The Momo Challenge and the Intersection of Contemporary Legend and Moral Panic”
- Bruce Sterling, “AI is the Scariest Beast Ever Created”
- Judith Clemens-Smucker, “Stranger Teens: Eleven Transforms the Monstrous Symbolism of Adolescence through a Contemporary Narrative Arc”
Adam Chitwood, “A Quiet Place Monsters Explained by John Krasinski”
A brief, affordable, and versatile thematic reader about Monsters
Monsters explores the central concept of the monstrous: Why do we create monsters? Are they animal, human, both, or neither? Which of our fears and desires do monsters embody? What can monsters tell us about cultural and historical moments? How do we cope with the monsters that haunt our imaginations—and our societies?Looking for instructor resources like Test Banks, Lecture Slides, and Clicker Questions? Request access to Achieve to explore the full suite of instructor resources.
Instructor Resources
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Are you a campus bookstore looking for ordering information?
MPS Order Search Tool (MOST) is a web-based purchase order tracking program that allows customers to view and track their purchases. No registration or special codes needed! Just enter your BILL-TO ACCT # and your ZIP CODE to track orders.
Canadian Stores: Please use only the first five digits/letters in your zip code on MOST.
Visit MOST, our online ordering system for booksellers: https://tracking.mpsvirginia.com/Login.aspx
Learn more about our Bookstore programs here: https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/contact-us/booksellers
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Our courses currently integrate with Canvas, Blackboard (Learn and Ultra), Brightspace, D2L, and Moodle. Click on the support documentation below to find out more details about the integration with each LMS.
Integrate Macmillan courses with Blackboard
Integrate Macmillan courses with Canvas
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If you’re a verified instructor, you can request a free sample of our courseware, e-book, or print textbook to consider for use in your courses. Only registered and verified instructors can receive free print and digital samples, and they should not be sold to bookstores or book resellers. If you don't yet have an existing account with Macmillan Learning, it can take up to two business days to verify your status as an instructor. You can request a free sample from the right side of this product page by clicking on the "Request Instructor Sample" button or by contacting your rep. Learn more.
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Sometimes also referred to as a spiral-bound or binder-ready textbook, loose-leaf textbooks are available to purchase. This three-hole punched, unbound version of the book costs less than a hardcover or paperback book.
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We can help! Contact your representative to discuss your specific needs for your course. If our off-the-shelf course materials don’t quite hit the mark, we also offer custom solutions made to fit your needs.
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Monsters
Monsters explores the central concept of the monstrous: Why do we create monsters? Are they animal, human, both, or neither? Which of our fears and desires do monsters embody? What can monsters tell us about cultural and historical moments? How do we cope with the monsters that haunt our imaginations—and our societies?
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