The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History

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Grab a stake, a fistful of garlic, a crucifix and holy water as you enter the dark, blood-curdling world of the original pain in the neck in this ultimate collection of vampire facts, fangs, and fiction!

What accounts for the undying fascination people have for vampires How did encounters with death create centuries-old myths and folklore in virtually every culture in the world When did the early literary vampiresas pictured by Goethe, Coleridge, Shelly, Polidori, Byron, and Nodier as the personifications of mans darker sidetransform from villains into todays cultural rebels

Showing how vampire-like creatures organically formed in virtually every part of the world, The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History by renowned religion expert and fearless vampire authority J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D., examines the historic, societal, and psychological role the vampire has playedand continues to playin understanding death, mans deepest desires, and human pathologies. It analyzes humanitys lusts, fears, and longing for power and the forbidden!

Today, the vampire serves as a powerful symbol for the darker parts of the human condition, touching on death, immortality, forbidden sexuality, sexual power and surrender, intimacy, alienation, rebellion, violence, and a fascination with the mysterious. The vampire is often portrayed as a symbolic leader advocating an outrageous alternative to the demands of conformity. Vampires can also be tools for scapegoating such as when women are called vamps and bosses are described as bloodsuckers.

Meet all of the villains, anti-heroes, and heroes of myths, legends, books, films, and television series across cultures and todays pop culture in The Vampire Almanac. It assembles and analyzes hundreds of vampiric characters, people, and creatures, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vlad the Impaler, Edward Cullen and The Twilight Saga, Bram Stoker, Lestat De Lioncourt and The Vampire Chronicles, Lon Chaney, True Blood, Bela Lugosi, Dracula, Dark Shadows, Lilith, Vampire Weekend, Batman, Nosferatu, and so many more.

There is a lot to sink your teeth into with this deep exhumation of the undead. Quench your thirst for facts, histories, biographies, definitions, analysis, immortality, and more! This gruesomely thorough book of vampire facts also has a helpful bibliography, an extensive index, and numerous photos, adding to its usefulness.

Reviews

"This is a vampiric bible of information. If vampires fascinate you, then get this book!!"Costarican Times

" relates the history of the vampire from its origins to the 21st century. It describes the basics about vampires; their origins in history and folklore; vampire scholarship; vampires around the world; and vampires in literature, drama, film, television, and pop culture " Protoview Book News

"The reader who loves a good scare will enjoy "The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History" by J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D. Pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about the undead is in here." Bookworm Sez

Author Bio

J. Gordon Melton, a nationally known author, lecturer, and scholar, is the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Baylor University and serves as the director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion. Dr. Melton is best known for his work on religious cults, and he is considered America's senior scholar in the field of new and unconventional religions, having studied them for more than 40 years. Simultaneously, he has emerged as a leading scholar of vampire and Dracula studies and previously served a tenure as the American president of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, an international association of vampire and Dracula scholars. He has authored multiple books in the field, two of which received the Lord Ruthven Award as the best nonfiction book in vampire studies. He currently resides in Waco, Texas, with his wife, Suzie.