- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: The History Press Ltd; New Ed edition (6 April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0750935227
- ISBN-13: 978-0750935227
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 237,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
The Count Dracula of legend is revealed to be based on a 15th century Romanian warlord called Vlad Tepes who favoured fearsome night attacks on the Turks and torturing his captors by driving stakes through their bodies in this grimly fascinating piece of historical detective work. If there is such a beast as a 'Draculanorak', then this is the book they've been waiting for. Among fascinating snippets unearthed are the fact that Christopher Lee wore red contact lenses for those blood-red eyeballs in the Hammer films, and the former dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu once said smugly to his health visitor: "A man like me comes along only once every five hundred years". The author, a crime novelist and historian, wonders: "Was his predecessor, five hundred years earlier, Vlad Dracula, the Impaler?"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
For many, Vlad the Impaler is the bloodsucking torturer recreated in Hollywood's Interview with the Vampire and the real character so vitally realised in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the man recreated on screen by screen legends Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee or Gary Oldman, or the vampire stalking through the pages of Ann Rice's novels. Later interpretations see him as a potent symbol of Nazi aggression in WWII, fired partly by Murnau's Nosferatu of the 1920s and the blood rites of the Aryans. But who was the real man who inspired the Dracula legend? Was he as gruesome as legend depicts, or, as some Romanians, refuting the popular image, suggest, an heroic 15th century warrior and freedom fighter? Or is his reputation as a bloodthirsty mass-murderer, who sadistically impaled his victims, justified? In this new book, by acclaimed true crime historian Mei Trow, the author peels back the layers of myth and history to unravel to reveal the 15th century figure who was the real Vlad the Impaler.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
After promising much this book is ultimately a disappointment. The peeling away of cinematic and literary history is brief and superficial. The chapter on Bram Stoker's Dracula turns with surprising speed to literary antecedents, skipping over key texts and diverting into unnecessary author biographies rather than focussing on the (un)changing nature of the vampire motif.
The rest of the book then explores the historical figure of Vlad Tepes, the Impaler of Wallachia (Romania). Yet at the heart of Trow's detective work is a hole where the Impaler should be. Clearly lacking copious evidence, the author compensates with endless amounts of historical contextualising, exploring the geo-politics of early modern Eastern Europe and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Further padding is provided by repetition of facts and the use of seemingly unnecessary comparisons with features in English history.
The most assured chapter is the penultimate one which tries to set Vlad Tepes in the context of other mass murdering rulers and politicians. Yet even this digresses into a grisly pondering of how best to impale somebody, calling upon a physicist's hypothesizing about 'nutcracker' theories.
If you want a general history of fifteenth century Wallachia and Romania this is as good a starting point as any. If you hope to pin down Vlad Dracula (forgive the pun) then I'm afraid he remains as elusive as a vampire at noon.
The rest of the book then explores the historical figure of Vlad Tepes, the Impaler of Wallachia (Romania). Yet at the heart of Trow's detective work is a hole where the Impaler should be. Clearly lacking copious evidence, the author compensates with endless amounts of historical contextualising, exploring the geo-politics of early modern Eastern Europe and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Further padding is provided by repetition of facts and the use of seemingly unnecessary comparisons with features in English history.
The most assured chapter is the penultimate one which tries to set Vlad Tepes in the context of other mass murdering rulers and politicians. Yet even this digresses into a grisly pondering of how best to impale somebody, calling upon a physicist's hypothesizing about 'nutcracker' theories.
If you want a general history of fifteenth century Wallachia and Romania this is as good a starting point as any. If you hope to pin down Vlad Dracula (forgive the pun) then I'm afraid he remains as elusive as a vampire at noon.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
On the one hand I disliked the structure of this book. I wasn't interested, I confess, in the history of vampire lore and movies, I just wanted to know about the real Vlad. It took a while to get there and even then the structure was thematic so it remained problematic getting a thorough chronology. There are certainly things I still don't know, such as wives'/concubines' names and so on, but I found the review of the evidence interesting and useful and the wider historical context invaluable. The coverage of his military campaigning was good. The review of his nature was a surprise: the book had been very positive until that point.I suppose it is difficult to categorise him in terms of his psychosis and behaviour and I didn't find this section helpful. As for the theories as to how to impale ergonomically I came away not much the wiser, but I did come away with the strong impression that Vlad's crimes were exaggerated - aren't they always? No doubt the regular cross-references to Richard III were intended to imply this as well. I enjoyed it and found it more useful than not on balance.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a book about the origin and lore of vampires, this book is an ideal starting point. The history of 'Dracula' in literature and movies is interesting, but sadly this book lacks little of interest about the Real Vlad, which is ultimately what I bought it for. On the whole an enjoyable book, but I feel the title is a tad misleading.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Desperate to learn about Vlad, frustrated by continuous digression!
As my title says! Too much veering off the subject to demonstrate his knowledge on other events...lists and lists of other events and authors and events and authors and events and... Read more
Published 25 days ago by M. P. Eaton
Fascinating, if very gruesome in parts
An analysis of the influence of vampire myths on literature and the (unquantifiable) extent to which they may have been inspired by this Medieval ruler. Read more
Published on 19 Nov 2009 by John Hopper
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