History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade... Book

Oh dear, Bannatyne's book was the worst of the three Halloween pop culture books I read recently. The editing was about at the level of a bad college paper, with repetition and clunky transitions. If you notice these things while reading, it's a sign that there is something off with them.

The next problem is that the footnotes are not extensive. Yes, Bannatyne's book has a huge bibliography, but I have no idea where she got her info and whether or not I can verify it. I also have no idea which other books to read if I wanted to read more on the topic. This issue could be partly to blame on the 1980s when the book was written (it was first published in 1990, I believe). I often come come across pop culture books from before 1995-ish with no endnotes or even bibliographies, something that appears to still be a problem with some of the more amateur local history books.

The next problem was the lack of analysis and thus the lack of a clear understanding of the evolution of the holiday. And, yes to the angry critic here on Goodreads who couldn't believe that Halloween had anything to do with marriages, it did. What I want to know is why Halloween evolved from *that* sort of celebration to today's candy, black and orange affair. Nicholas Rogers does this so much better in his slightly more academic Halloween: From Pagan Night to Party Night.

Finally, the additional information interspersed among the text, should have been either in boxed sidebars or between chapters. As it was in my edition, the sudden appearance of mini tangents everywhere was distracting.

I feel bad that I have so much criticism of this book. It did have great info and I have seen tons of Halloween websites rip off her work without credit. Plus, on her own website, she looks like a nice person. Maybe this book was something rushed for the series (there's also a Thanksgiving version of this book, called Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History, by another writer) and Bannantyne sent it off before a really thorough read? Ok, maybe I am just making excuses for her. I just hope her feelings won't be too hurt if she ever reads this.