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musicofkatfish's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Author separates themselves from their study a bit too much for my opinion, giving it a feeling of “holier than thou”. However, the archival work and educational take on ghost tours overrides it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Racism, and Domestic abuse
suchacommotion's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I read this for class, which is good because I likely never would have picked this up. Miles’ analysis of ghosts & hauntings in American culture (particularly in the south) is poignant, cutting, and deeply critical. Every page was expertly crafted and wholly engaging.
megan_cellucci's review against another edition
3.0
read this book for my geotourism class, which we are talking about dark tourism. I honestly found it interesting in some ways, in discussing the manner about how ghost tours came to be and why people are so interested in them. but miles brings up the great points of why are all the ghost tours in the souths involving the past of african americans, and most of the stories derive from slavery and the civil war. honestly was an interesting read, got slow at some points and tbh it's a pain for me to read books when they are assigned to me
laurenbookwitchbitch's review against another edition
5.0
I finished Tiya Miles work of fiction ("The Cherokee Rose,") and immediately knew I had to pick up this book. I honestly cannot do it justice in my own words, so here are some of my favorite passages:
"Ghosts and the means by which we hold them in mind, ghost stories, make for a special mode of connection to the past-that is historical-the modern ghost story can be understood as a popular form of historical narrative. The stories that we tell about ghosts are a method of history making, then a cultural process by which we create, use, and understand history. Through ghost stories we preserve important personal and collective knowledge about what took place in the past, and particularly about events in the past that we have excluded from active, embraced memory." - pgs 14-15
"...African American spirits are not gullibly friendly, delightfully cartoonish, or controllably mainstream. They are deadly serious messengers from another time that compel us to wrestle with the past, a past chained to colonialism, slavery, and patriarchy, but a past that can nevertheless challenge and commission us to fight for justice in the present. We can call forth the power of ghosts as scholars, writers, teachers, artists and stewards of historic sites, as indeed we must if we are to place progressive social justice visions in contention with a culture possessed by ghost fancy. But let our ghosts be real, let our ghosts be true, let our ghosts carry the integrity of our ancestors."- Pg 132
"Ghosts and the means by which we hold them in mind, ghost stories, make for a special mode of connection to the past-that is historical-the modern ghost story can be understood as a popular form of historical narrative. The stories that we tell about ghosts are a method of history making, then a cultural process by which we create, use, and understand history. Through ghost stories we preserve important personal and collective knowledge about what took place in the past, and particularly about events in the past that we have excluded from active, embraced memory." - pgs 14-15
"...African American spirits are not gullibly friendly, delightfully cartoonish, or controllably mainstream. They are deadly serious messengers from another time that compel us to wrestle with the past, a past chained to colonialism, slavery, and patriarchy, but a past that can nevertheless challenge and commission us to fight for justice in the present. We can call forth the power of ghosts as scholars, writers, teachers, artists and stewards of historic sites, as indeed we must if we are to place progressive social justice visions in contention with a culture possessed by ghost fancy. But let our ghosts be real, let our ghosts be true, let our ghosts carry the integrity of our ancestors."- Pg 132