Richard Roeper

Title:	Urban Legends
Author:	Richard Roeper
Publisher:	New Page Books
ISBN:	1-56414-499-2
Pages:	271 pages + Notes & Index
Copyright:	2001
Reviewer:	Mike Gleason
Contact Information:	gleason.mike@verizon.net
Category:	Folklore
Review:	Okay, I admit this book has nothing to do with Wicca or Paganism, but we all need a break once in while, just to clear our minds. Most of us have heard at least some of these stories in the past (almost always from somebody who knew someone who knew the person that it ACTUALLY happened to), and they are good fun. If you’re looking for the "classics" - the hitchhiking ghost, the killer with the hook hand - you’ll have to look elsewhere. Mr. Roeper, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, has moved into the modern age here. In this book you will find medical urban legends (the stolen kidneys, tainted needles and more), bogus rebates (Gerber, Nike), college urban legends, wedding horrors, on-air urban legends, and assorted other items which seem to be especially prevalent in our cyber world today. Mr. Roeper has been writing about Urban Legends for over a decade and, he freely admits, even he is occasionally taken in. At the end of the book he does list a couple of internet sites where stories can be checked out. As he reminds us, if a story seems to be too good to be true, it is likely an Urban Legend. I intend to be using the resources Mr. Roeper recommends to check out anything which catches my interest and makes me wonder: "Could that really be true?"
Review submitted:	25 February 2003