Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality

Rating:
Summary: A strong dose of bitter reality for all vampire lovers
Review: This book is an unrelenting look at the "truth" about vampires. It is not as clinical as it might be, but it certainly in the grand tradition of such scholarship. The most interesting parts for fans of vampire literature are the details on the original folk lore beliefs and rituals, most of which are a lot more interesting than the ones made up by Hollywood. Not for everyone's taste, but certainly worthwhile if it is.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Review: This book is intended as a introduction to the folkloric vampire; that is, the "real life" vampires of history that caused such a stir in 18th century academic and popular imagination. The book is essentially an explanation of what was really going on and boils down to the simple point that most people had a very inaccurate view of the process of post-morterm decomposition (which can produce some strange effects such as blood at the mouth and movement in the grave). Since it was only really those who were expected of being vampires who were exhumed the discovery of such oddities creates an circular plausibility structure that vampires exist.

One of the most helpful aspects of Barber's book was the inclusion of translated text of some of the most (in)famous accounts and helpful commentary. All this is backed up by impressive research and extensive - and often morbid - medical commentary coupled with an often witty tenor.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and it has most definitely spurred me on to further research in this subject. However, I felt there were two areas that could have been done better. First, the historical commentary was not very thorough and a survey of the development of the vampiric myth would of proved very useful. Also, and this is a minor point, Barber's consistent neglect of gender inclusive language not only in relation to the vampire - which is understandable - but generally really began to irritate me after a while.

Definitely recommended, however.