jjares reviewed Vampires and Werewolves: The Legends and Folk Tales about History?s Most Notorious Mythical Beings on + 3299 more book reviews
The author of this book makes a great point about vampires. What the world is familiar with is as much the invention of book authors and Hollywood as they are the invention of old folk tales. The idea of the 'living dead' is as old a man himself. The werewolf legend, however, did not evolve until the Late Middle Ages in Europe.
But the idea of a human turning into a wild animal is an antiquated belief. I was surprised to see that human-animal transformations are found in Classical Greek and Roman tales of shapeshifting. However, the idea of werewolves was accepted as fact by a large percentage of people by the Late Middle Ages. The author takes the reader on an interesting trip to different countries and their variations on the theme of werewolves or vampires.
When people were looking for the reason behind contagion, they would often blame it on a vampire (who was often the first to die of an outbreak) and thus he/she was blamed for later deaths. Remember, until the late middle 20th century, Eastern Europeans lived in small villages, isolated from the world. They looked for causes and solutions within their understanding.
Perhaps the idea of werewolves came from the Beast of Gevaudan. Generally, wolves did not bother humans but during times of famine and want, wolves did attack humans. The book tells that interesting (and true) story of the Beast. Europe does not have a lock on vampire and werewolf legends. This book travels over the world and shares unique legends and beliefs.
This is a surprisingly thorough study of vampires and werewolves because they even investigated the books through the ages and real people who lived awful lives (Vlad the Impaler and the Hungarian noblewoman (from 1560/1 to 1614) Lady Bathory). Then the Vampire of Highgate Cemetery (in the 1970s) is discussed. There was even an Associated Press report in 2012 about a Serbian vampire.
The final section covers the medical explanation with the vampire legends. This part is really interesting, but I don't suggest you read it while eating (like I was doing).
But the idea of a human turning into a wild animal is an antiquated belief. I was surprised to see that human-animal transformations are found in Classical Greek and Roman tales of shapeshifting. However, the idea of werewolves was accepted as fact by a large percentage of people by the Late Middle Ages. The author takes the reader on an interesting trip to different countries and their variations on the theme of werewolves or vampires.
When people were looking for the reason behind contagion, they would often blame it on a vampire (who was often the first to die of an outbreak) and thus he/she was blamed for later deaths. Remember, until the late middle 20th century, Eastern Europeans lived in small villages, isolated from the world. They looked for causes and solutions within their understanding.
Perhaps the idea of werewolves came from the Beast of Gevaudan. Generally, wolves did not bother humans but during times of famine and want, wolves did attack humans. The book tells that interesting (and true) story of the Beast. Europe does not have a lock on vampire and werewolf legends. This book travels over the world and shares unique legends and beliefs.
This is a surprisingly thorough study of vampires and werewolves because they even investigated the books through the ages and real people who lived awful lives (Vlad the Impaler and the Hungarian noblewoman (from 1560/1 to 1614) Lady Bathory). Then the Vampire of Highgate Cemetery (in the 1970s) is discussed. There was even an Associated Press report in 2012 about a Serbian vampire.
The final section covers the medical explanation with the vampire legends. This part is really interesting, but I don't suggest you read it while eating (like I was doing).
