Beyond the Living Dead

<p> In 1968 George Romero's film <I>Night of the Living Dead</I> premiered launching a growing preoccupation with zombies within mass and literary fiction film television and video games. Romero's creativity and enduring influence make him a worthy object of inquiry in his own right and his long career helps us take stock of the shifting interest in zombies since the 1960s. Examining his work promotes a better understanding of the current state of the zombie and where it is going amidst the political and social turmoil of the twenty-first century. </p><p> These new essays document interpret and explain the meaning of the still-budding Romero legacy drawing cross-disciplinary perspectives from such fields as literature political science philosophy and comparative film studies. Essays consider some of the sources of Romero's inspiration (including comics science fiction and Westerns) chart his influence as a storyteller and a social critic and consider the legacy he leaves for viewers artists and those studying the living dead.</p>