Lisa Morton, Halloween aficionado extraordinaire

American author Lisa Morton is my Halloween hero. She is the only writer I know of who specializes in doing non-fiction books about Halloween. Her amazing book, Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween, traces Hallowe'en from its earliest days, from Ireland and turnips and a feast for the dead, to the current explosion of Halloween commercialism that is all-pervasive in October. She explains how Halloween went from simple parties to door-to-door trick-or-treating to a much wider cultural phenomena. I want to re-read this, although I certainly don't have the time. The only minor quibble I have with this incisive, informative and immersing history is that Morton turns a segue on a dime. She tends to switch from history to pop culture in mid-sentence. However, as Morton has assembled the first non-fiction book to tackle All Hallows' Eve, and with aplomb at that, a rough segue here and there is more than understandable. The result is admittedly breathtaking and the pay-off for the reader, in terms of knowledge, is rich and enormous. This book is a treasure that I hunted down and devoured.