Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula

Rating:
Summary: Vampirism and the Real Dracula
Review: Although the book has several chapters about vampirism and Bram Stoker's Dracula, the remaining chapters about Vlad Tepes are very detailed and a good read. Vlad surely was one of the most cruel tyrants ever and his atrocities are described with much detail. Contemporaries wrote about the "untold abuses, sad murders and mutilations by the cruel tyrant Dracula" and the author discusses the sources and their reliability by their level of interest in blackening Vlad. According to Trow, many of Vlad Dracula's acts can be interpreted as efforts to enforce his own moral code upon his country and to strengthen and modernise the central government at the expense of the nobility, because they had repeatedly undermined the power of the Wallachia's rulers (and buried alive his elder brother).
An interesting section describes the `usual' way of impalement and the most likely way used by Vlad in the case of mass impalements or when a mother was impaled together with her baby.


Rating:
Summary: A welcome addition to community library collections
Review: Expertly presented by crime writer and historian M. J. Trow, Vlad The Impaler: In Search Of The Real Dracula is an impressively researched, meticulously detailed, and superbly written study of the life of the ruthless historical figure whose memory and legend became the inspiration for the enduring legend of a blood-drinking, undead fiend. Yet there was a great deal more to this controversial prince (as vicious as he was), than what his legends say - he was, in historical fact, "more sinned against than sinning". Vlad had to contend with avenging the murders of his family, defending his nation-state from brutal enemies who took every pain to destroy his reputation, and who eventually became a defeated martyr, captured by the Hungarian King Corvinus. Vlad The Impaler is very highly recommended reading and a welcome addition to community library biography collections.

Rating:
Summary: This book could use better editing
Review: I am no expert on Dracula but my historical sensibilities have been offended by several serious errors in the text. Here are just two examples: on pages 9-10 Mr. Trow writes:

"...Oliver Cromwell, whose head ... may or may not have been separated from his body..."

It is a well-known fact that Cromwell's head definitely had been separated from his body, and found its lonely grave only in 1960.

On page 123 we find the following fragment about Jan Zizka:

"...he had fought for the Teutonic Order against the Poles...
Losing an eye at Tannenberg in 1410 fighting for Wenceslas..."

These two incomplete sentences contain four mistakes. First, Zizka fought FOR the Poles AGAINST the Teutonic Order. Second, he did so at the battle of Tannenberg in 1410, therefore he couldn't fight there for Wenceslas. Third, the unnamed battle from the first sentence and the battle of Tannenberg/Grunwald are one and the same event. Fourth, Zizka lost an eye in his adolescence.

In short, this book could really benefit from knowledgeable editing.

Rating:
Summary: This book could use better editing
Review: I am no expert on Dracula but my historical sensibilities have been offended by several serious errors in the text. Here are just two examples: on pages 9-10 Mr. Trow writes:

"...Oliver Cromwell, whose head ... may or may not have been separated from his body..."

It is a well-known fact that Cromwell's head definitely had been separated from his body, and found its lonely grave only in 1960.

On page 123 we find the following fragment about Jan Zizka:

"...he had fought for the Teutonic Order against the Poles...
Losing an eye at Tannenberg in 1410 fighting for Wenceslas..."

These two incomplete sentences contain four mistakes. First, Zizka fought FOR the Poles AGAINST the Teutonic Order. Second, he did so at the battle of Tannenberg in 1410, therefore he couldn't fight there for Wenceslas. Third, the unnamed battle from the first sentence and the battle of Tannenberg/Grunwald are one and the same event. Fourth, Zizka lost an eye in his adolescence.

In short, this book could really benefit from knowledgeable editing.

Rating:
Summary: A major disappointment
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. While the history sections are reasonably solid, the author falls into the usual traps whenever he tries to make links between the historical Vlad and the Dracula of Bram Stoker's novel. Numerous times he states speculation as if it were fact. Worse, he makes statements that any reader of the novel "Dracula" would know are ludicrous: for example, that at the end of the story, Count Dracula has a stake driven through his heart; or that Dracula is unable to function during the day. To be fair to the author, I plan to write him directly and elaborate on all the flaws I found in the book. Maybe in a second edition (if there is one) they can be corrected. In the meantime, if you are looking for a reliable book on Vlad without all the nonsense about his being the inspiration for Stoker's novel, stick with "Vlad III Dracula" by Kurt Treptow.

Dr. Elizabeth Miller
www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller [Dracula's homepage]