Customer Reviews

From Demons to Dracula: The Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth

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It's hard to find a comprehensive non-fiction text about vampires that is not heavy-handed on Vlad the Impaler. If you have researched vampires extensively, you know that vampire lore is mostly *not* connected to Dracula and that McNally and Florescu's text, *In Search of Dracula,* exaggerates the connection. There are *blood legends* present in most cultures from around the world since pre-history up to the present (see "Is It Real? Vampires" by the Discovery Channel for 21st century accounts). *From Demons to Dracula* is no different in this regard. However, the non-Vlad chapters are of interest. The rest of the text explores many interesting historical and fictional accounts of the vampire to give the reader a broader understanding of how pervasive the vampire tale is in world culture. Many people dismiss the study of vampires as a hack topic, and, recently, a trendy topic. However, the ubiquitous "blood legends" of the world are far from useless study. Why are there blood legends from around the world? How are many of these tales so similar when many of these cultures had no contact with each other and had no idea what the other culture was doing? Why are there blood legends present in the many different religions? *From Demons* is not perfect, but I use it as the central text in a class I teach on vampires because it is more comprehensive than other texts. I recommend this text as part of a serious study on "blood legends" from around the world and what these legends suggest in the course of human history and development.

From Demons to Dracula is, in a word, great. There are very few books available on the Vampire's origins, and this book gives some great theories and possibilities. It will definitely be useful in my research.