Rating: 
Summary: "The witch is dead,and this is her head."
Review:
This book doesn't live up to its billing.Although there is a bit about the origin of Halloween and its evolvement over the centuries;it's pretty superficial and not developed.
Far too much of the book is about the degutting of Halloween and the movie industry and its horror films since the 1930's.
Halloween is about one particular day ,while the stuff this book is padded with is just horror , ghost material and the version put out by the Martha Stewart mentality.An in depth effort on Halloween would take much more research than displayed and purported to be a "cultural history".
This book has about as much depth about Halloween as a book about Frosty the Snowman would have about Christmas.But then again,people who see Christmas as a commercialized holiday of nothing more than festive lights and gifts might feel this book tells all there is about Halloween.
A more appropiate title for this book might have been"The dismantling and misreprentation of Halloween since the 1930's"
Rating: 
Summary: 'Death Makes A Holiday' is Killer
Review: A friend who knew I was into Halloween picked up this book for me. I'm glad she did because I couldn't put it down. I found the book a nice comprehensive look at a number of topics related to Halloween-- from it's patchwork history, modern religous signifigance (or lack thereof) and evolution into the holiday rivaling Xmas that we know and love. I was especially happy to see mention of Disney's Haunted Mansion and it's transformation with the help of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. Whitty, well written and very interesting book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun and Insightful
Review: An overview of the history and changing perceptions of All Hallow's Eve and related (sometimes assimilated) holidays. The focus is primarily on Halloween in the 20th Century, with chapters on Halloween and Holywood, Halloween after 9/11, and Halloween and the gay rights movement.
Enjoyable and educational, the author's personal love of this holiday clearly shines through. A refreshing look at an uniquely American holiday (however loosely related to ancient Celtic festivals).
Rating: 
Summary: How Can Death Be So Uninteresting?
Review: Anyone who has read "The Battle for Christmas" by Stephen Nissenbaum and is looking for a companion book for Halloween...run. This scattered book talks less about the holiday's history than of its contemporary manfestations (both real and imagined). It meanders in all directions indulging more in Skal's peripheral interests like September 11th and gay-pride parades than in uncovered history. Almost as in search for a suitable number of pages, Skal almost endlessly describes the plots of movies we already know and muses so shamelessly about tourist attractions in Salem that it begins to read like an ad for the Visitors Bureau. This is an overwritten introduction for what could have been. Lots of fluff for those of you who don't want too much information muddying up that slick cover.
Rating:
Summary: How Can Death Be So Uninteresting?
Review: Anyone who has read "The Battle for Christmas" by Stephen Nissenbaum and is looking for a companion book for Halloween...run. This scattered book talks less about the holiday's history than of its contemporary manfestations (both real and imagined). It meanders in all directions indulging more in Skal's peripheral interests like September 11th and gay-pride parades than in uncovered history. Almost as in search for a suitable number of pages, Skal almost endlessly describes the plots of movies we already know and muses so shamelessly about tourist attractions in Salem that it begins to read like an ad for the Visitors Bureau. This is an overwritten introduction for what could have been. Lots of fluff for those of you who don't want too much information muddying up that slick cover.
Rating: 
Summary: A promising start that never reaches its fullest potential
Review: Being a fan of Mr. Skal's writing (Monster Show is an annual literary tradition for me) and of Halloween in particular, I picked up this book hoping to find a detailed historical account of Halloween and all of its manifestations (from cultural to the commercial). The initial chapters delivered this perfectly, and I thoroughly enjoyed his account of the origins of Halloween and its cultural significances, however, beyond this riveting opening, the author goes on to pursue disparate topics marginally related to, or peripherally effected by Halloween. The whole came off a little disjointed, with too much emphasis given to topics that might have made better footnotes than chapters. I would rather have had pages of more in-depth information on the Jack-o-lantern or druids than the West Coast Pride parades. That's not to say the borderline topics of the individual chapters weren't interesting, I enjoyed them all and found some of them truly fascinating in their own right, but I couldn't help but want to revisit the initial chapters' themes. I wanted more History with my Halloween, as per the book's title. Granted the first half of this book may be reason enough to buy it (The Candy Man story gave me the creeps), but ultimately, I would rather have had a 300 page detailed exploration of the themes and ideas brought up in the first half of the book, with the remainder of the chapters' topics sprinkled about where necessary. Still, it's a well researched, well written book that can enlighten anyone with more than a passing interest in all things Halloween, I have certainly learned a lot reading this book. There may be a few rocks in this trick-or-treat bag, but ultimately it's a rewarding and engaging read.
Rating:
Summary: Emphasis on the 'cultural'.
Review: I found that David Skal's book delt more on the cultural and less on the historical aspects of America's Halloween, and this is probably why it's a cultural history as opposed to a history. It's a fascinating overview about this prodominately American holiday as it skims through many parts of All Hallow's Eve. It would have been nice if he had added a bit more about monsters and the like (hence the rating) but overall this book is entertaining and worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I made it through the vapid introduction and most of the way through the first chapter before skipping around and skimming here and there. Skal's writing is rather boring, and by page 40, I still had no grasp on his meandering portrait of Halloween. He seemed to be trying to keep the short-attention span crowd entertained with his whimsically peppered history lessons, but unfortunately he leaves the rest of us behind. How disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating, and also scary
Review: I really enjoyed "Death Makes a Holiday"; I thought it was a fascinating and thorough exploration of a holiday whose origins were always mysterious to me. (They're still somewhat mysterious, as no one can explain for certain where all the traditions came from.) One of the other reviewers complained that he already knew some of the information in the book, but I've never found a history of Halloween that answers the questions this one does; maybe my local library needs to beef up their Halloween section. The book's approach is very personal: the author spends a lot of time on topics he finds interesting, such as monster movies, that not every historian would consider strictly relevant to the celebration of Halloween. However, I found those topics interesting, too, so I didn't mind. Skal's writing style is intelligent but conversational, so the book is a breeze to read. I especially enjoyed his first-hand interviews with haunted-house creators, and Sara Karloff. I wouldn't recommend the book for kids, though, because there are descriptions of real-life murders that are actually quite scary, even for an adult.
Rating:
Summary: Something of a letdown.
Review: Like many in the baby boom generation, I grew up loving Halloween and have been reluctant to give the holiday up. For years I had a rather elaborate yard haunt that seemed to grow bigger and bigger each year. I haven't put on the annual production in a while but one of these Octobers the casket is going to come out of the garage then its trick-or-treaters beware. With that in mind, one day while browsing around Amazon I came across this book and it caught my interest given my love for the macabre holiday and its traditions. David Skal in this book gives the reader a quick overview of the holiday. There is a little on the history, a little on the traditions, a little on the legends and a little on about the darker side of Halloween. There is not however much detail on any subject. For example his chapter about Halloween movies deals almost exclusively with the "Halloween" movie series and its shortcomings. If he had just switched over to television he could have written an entire chapter just on The Simpsons, let alone all of the other series that have started to do Halloween episodes, something almost unheard of before 1990 or so. I found his chapter on debunking the poison candy myths to be one of the best in the book and was of course attracted to the chapter on yard haunts. The chapter he offers about witches was also interesting although I am sure there are some Salem merchants who would disagree. Overall this is a pretty good book but it could have been much better. The appearance of the author's personal agenda on occasion didn't help but overall I just never really got a feel for what he was trying to say about Halloween. I enjoyed the book and did pick up a few bits of information but I couldn't help but think something was missing. The man has to love Halloween to have written so much about it but that love for the holiday just doesn't come across in this book. Yes, there is something about Halloween that has a great appeal to my generation. I can't really explain it and so I guess I can't complain if Mr. Skal can't either. This is not a bad book; it just doesn't live up to the glory of the holiday it is about.
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