Vampire Forensics: Uncovering The Origins Of An Enduring Legend (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
This book was interesting, but it wasn't coherent at all. The author jumped from one myth to another, without considering time lines or origin. It first started talking about vampires in pop culture, then went to Vlad the Impaler, to grave diggers in the 80's, then myths and religions in the 1300's, back to settlers in America during the 1700's. Each part was interesting like I said, but I also think it was almost overly detailed and the author's main part kind of derailed until you got to another chapter where he started with a new myth or origin. I learned a lot, definitely, and would probably recommend this to people who just wanted to learn more about vampire "history" and didn't really care about doing strict research, but if you're looking for a clear and cohesive book to use for research, or if you just like that sort of thing, this book probably isn't for you. A messy and hurried book, full of inaccuracies (some amusing), that feels like it was thrown together to try and cash in a bit too late on the teen paranormal craze.It has no real structure or argument. It begins with random references to vampire novels, the requisite going on about Vlad Dracul as if he was actually Dracula, and then proceeds to random accounts of every belief about undead or death rituals that the author can think of, tenuously linked to vampirism. While the vampire-related material that actually relate are interesting, the whole thing is pretty much a mess. It needed someone to structure this properly, develop the relevant material, get rid of the rest - and, yes, an anthropologist would have been nice, because the Orientalism is a bit of a worry, too.
What do You think about Vampire Forensics: Uncovering The Origins Of An Enduring Legend (2010)?
death is really creepy. but i can't stop reading this book!
—Breonna
Fascinating study of a subject dear to my heart.
—olliebailey
