{"product_id":"books-the-abominable-mr-seabrook-by-joe-ollmann","title":"The Abominable Mr. Seabrook","description":"In  the  early  twentieth  century,  travel  writing represented the desire for the expanding bourgeoisie to experience the exotic cultures of the world past their immediate surroundings.  Journalist  William  Buehler  Seabrook was emblematic of this trend participating in  voodoo  ceremonies,  riding  camels  cross the Sahara desert, communing with cannibals  and  most  notably,  popularizing  the term  zombie  in  the  West.  A  string  of  his bestselling  books  show  an  engaged,  sympathetic  gentleman  hoping  to  share  these strange, hidden delights with the rest of the world. He was willing to go deeper than any outsider  had  before.  But, of  course,  there was a dark side. Seabrook was a barely functioning  alcoholic  who  was  deeply  obsessed with  bondage  and  the  so-called  mystical properties of pain and degradation. His life was a series of traveling highs and drunken lows; climbing on and falling off the wagon again and again. What led the popular and vivid writer to such a sad state? Cartoonist  Joe  Ollmann  spent  seven years  researching  Seabrook s  life  and  accessing  long  neglected  archives  in  order  to piece  together  the  peripatetic  life  of  a  for- gotten  American  writer.  Often  weaving  in Seabrook s  own  words  and  those  of  his  biographers,  Ollmann  posits  Seabrook  the believer  versus  Seabrook  the  exploiter,  and leaves the reader to consider where one ends and the other begins.","brand":"World of Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53508612423953,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781770462670.jpg?v=1778150530","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/books-the-abominable-mr-seabrook-by-joe-ollmann","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}