However, it's another non fiction horror book I want to talk about today, Zombies: A Cultural History by Roger Luckhurst (published 2015). This is one hell of a book. Forget the rot shambling walking dead of pop culture, this book takes readers back to where it all began... the Zombi in Haiti, one born of voodoo and near death plantation workers.
Zombi (yes I've dropped the 'e' deliberately) is the pre-Americanized name associated with the shambling, shuffling dead; scuffing feat on the pavement and leaving blood smears wherever they go.
Before they were herd, before they were legion, 'they' were one; a sole person suffering between life and death, commonly associated with other monsters of the night such as vampires and to a lesser extent, mummies. There's even a picture in this book of a single 'real life zombi' - spoiler alert, whilst thought to be legitimate at the time (1938), this zombi is just a person, albeit, a person in very poor health (for those interested, her name is Felicia-Felix-Mentor).
The cultural history is a little complex at times with social economical threads being pulled, capitalism, and politics weaved into the author's narrative but it all works - if you're patient and read slowly. Consume the book, don't be consumer by it.
Interestingly the herd or swarm mentality of the zombi didn't grace the pages of fiction or reels of film until post WWII. Other interesting factoids include the rise of medicine in correlation to the zombie (yes, I switched to the modern spelling here), and some insightful take-away's from George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).
Overall, Zombies: A Cultural History is a great read. Whilst I can't give it 5/5 stars (partly due to over-referencing World War Z in the later stages of the book) it's a solid 4/5 and a must read for fans of the zombie pop culture who want to know more about where this blood/meat thirsty phenomenon came from.
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