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Vampire Forensics: Uncovering The Origins Of An Enduring Legend (2010)

by Mark Collins Jenkins(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1426206070 (ISBN13: 9781426206078)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

National Geographic

review 1: Fact: Vampires are sexy. This book…not so much. I found myself drifting away, daydreaming about cupcakes or how to pull off my Nyan Cat Halloween costume. Then I’d snap back to reality and realize I had swept through eight pages and am now reading about the bubonic plague. What? How’d we get here? I’m lost. Help. After reading quite a few reviews on this book (which, really, I should have done before settling on what I thought would be an educational October read), I’ve realized I’m not alone in getting frustrated at the lack of structure or the irritating narration or the fact that it just seems impossible to read a single page without entering a vampiric trance. I should say that this book was well researched and well referenced (it’s a hefty bibliography) ... moreand had loads of interesting tidbits about monsters, myth, and disease. However, instead of shedding light on the vampire legend, the vampire itself ends up getting buried in the layers of information and the many transgressions of the author, whose aim, it seems, was to dump as many facts as possible into this book instead of formulate an actual argument. At the end we’re left with some story about larva, of all things. I’m not really sure. At that point I was already back to thinking about cupcakes.
review 2: This is a fascinating look at the origins of vampire lore from all around the world (or a similar manifestation). I've always considered myself tolerably well-read on vampires, but I was surprised how widespread belief in vampires - or an equivalent - was, and how long such legends have been around. This book goes into the various legends, especially the most famous Slavic-based vampires, the stories behind them and explanations as to why the seemly terrifying phenomenon occurred. Fair warning- this is not a book for the weak of stomach. It's not gratuitous by any means, but Jenkins goes into some detail about funerary practices, embalming rituals, cremation, and the ways people would prevent the dead from rising again. There were many diseases - most notably rabies and tuberculosis - that often were mistaken as vampirism. This book also goes into related undead legends. For example, one possible origin for the word "zombi" is the Angolan word for the name of a deity. No book on vampires would be complete without the nods to the Hollywood contributions to the legend, nor a mention of Vlad Tepes, as well as Bram Stoker's famous novel. A lot of information is packed in less than 300 pages. less

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