INSKEEP: Now these days the kind of candy that we eat has been evolving. They were meant to suggest the basic lie, which is this is nutritional.

During the Depression they cost a nickel and they would have names like Club Sandwich or Chicken Dinner and those names were quite intentional. Candy bars are really the first American fast food. ALMOND: The big event in the history of candy bars is World War I because candy bars are produced en masse and sent to the soldiers for their ration kits and when they come back from Europe, of course, they say, `Hey, where are these delicious amazing candy bars we used to have?' And so that sort of spurs the candy bar boom.

INSKEEP: Now Americans did not always eat so many sweets, though our consumption has been building for almost a century. And since in their secret hearts everybody wants candy all the time, all my friends, for instance, buy about six times as much candy as they need, because, you know, supposedly they don't want it to run out for all the kids, but, of course, the secret motive is, and the candy companies know this, there'll be some left over. ALMOND: I think Halloween is this fabulous ritual in which you kind of get what I call freak amnesty. He's the author of 'Candy Freak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America.' And he says this year's Halloween candy is not all for kids. We got the details on candy obsessions from Steve Almond, and that's his real name. It's an unhealthy but totally human desire for the good stuff. STEVE ALMOND (Author, 'Candy Freak'): What drives the candy business is our irrational desire for sweet things in our mouth.

They're feeding an addiction that starts at a young age. This year Americans are expected to spend more than $1 billion on Halloween candy.

Steve almond candy freak