![Rapper MF DOOM performs at a benefit concert for the Rhino Foundation at Central Park's Rumsey Playfield on June 28, 2005 in New York City.](https://media.wnyc.org/i/800/0/l/85/2024/10/GettyImages-53163979.jpg)
Happy Halloween! American writers, artists, and filmmakers have had an interest in the spooky and macabre for centuries. A new book traces that history and the role horror has played in American culture from the Salem witch trials to today. Author and Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber joins us to discuss, American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond.
When MF DOOM passed away suddenly in 2020, the music world grieved for one of the most legendary and mysterious rappers in the genre. DOOM, who grew up on Long Island, was known for performing in a mask, concealing his identity, and creating multiple cult-classic underground albums like Operation: Doomsday, Madvillainy, and MM..FOOD. Journalist S.H. Fernando Jr. has written a new biography of the influential rapper, The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap's Masked Iconoclast, and he discusses his research with us ahead of his book event tonight at the Brooklyn Museum in conversation with Hanif Abdurraqib.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Tobe Hooper's horror masterpiece, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." The iconic slasher film broke new ground in horror cinema and became a primary influence for many of the filmmakers that followed, most recently Ti West's popular film "X." We discuss the legacy of the film, and take calls, with Erik Piepenburg, who writes a monthly horror column for the New York Times.