The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead, Third Edition

by J. Gordon Melton, PhD
Vampire Book 3e

If it's vampire-related, it's in here. Top Paranormal Books of 2010

About.com

Another creepy classic of encyclopedic proportions, recounting more documented tales of frightening eyewitness being encounters that covers the gamut of such dark mysteries, from your more mundane cryptozoological Bigfoot fanfare to supernatural beasties like the Little People or the Shadow People, with every shade and variety of non-people in between. Brad's book will have you riveted to each page from beginning to end.

Alternate Perceptions

Written by religious scholar and fearless vampire authority Melton, this updated edition is a thorough guide for all things relating to vampires. Sure to be popular with readers whose interest in vampires has been sparked by the current trend.

Booklist

Without doubt, the vampire myth inspires continued fascination and is currently all the rage with television programs and films devoted to the topic. The new edition is completely update and no doubt is the most comprehensive collection of vampire lore available.

Bookviews

The most comprehensive collection of vampire lore, with entries on everything from African Vampires to Yama, the God of Death.

Chicago Tribune

An excellent reference. This remarkable amalgam of the popular and the scholarly is highly recommended.

Choice

a significant expansion of the second edition published in 1999, with updated information on vampires in books, movies, television, and popular culture.

College & Research Libraries News

The best assembled and most complete compendium of all things vampire. Author J. Gordon Melton's impressive resume lends credence to a tome of vampires that is both scholarly and exciting.

Fate Magazine

Anything and everything you ever wanted or needed to know about vampires is found within this massive 900-page reference. The mere writing of such a massive undertaking as this book would be a seemingly impossible task, but the author pulls it off nicely ... I highly recommend this book.

Horror Classics Book Review

The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead is one of the most valuable books I use in the prep work I do. I use this encyclopedia as a survey book to guide me to other sources because it's the most definitive and broad reference-- and certainly the most up to date-- that I know of.

Jason Henderson, author of Alex Van Helsing series

This impressive compendium is a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in researching vampires or vampirism.

Journal of American Folklore

the most inclusive, up to date, and thorough resource book for both academians and fans.

Lexington Vampire Examiner

This wide-ranging resource includes entries relating to [vampire] lore from around the globe. The book features more than 500 clear and succinct articles. Melton’s handy volume provides the most comprehensive coverage currently available.

Library Journal

… a massive reference work, and it is good to see that there is a comprehensive index as well as the individual alphabetical entries - an absolute essential …

Magonia Review of Books

The third edition of this comprehensive encyclopedia of vampires and vampire lore is exhaustive. Readers who really want something to sink their teeth into will find this indispensable.

Publishers Weekly

With updated coverage detailing the emergence of the "Buffy" and "Twilight" phenomena of the past decade, this wide-ranging resource includes entries relating to lore from around the globe. The book features more than 500 clear and succinct alphabetical articles written for fans of classic and popular literature and for researchers. Melton's handy volume provides the most comprehensive coverage currently available for general collections. But note: readers should be on spoiler alert when perusing book and film entries.

School Library Journal

"The Vampire Book: Third Edition" by J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D. This uber-comprehensive "Encyclopedia of the Undead" will surely make your vampire fan show her fangs with happiness.

The Bookworm Sez

A comprehensive survey of all things vampiric, this massive volume belongs on the shelf of every Goth you know, including fans of Bitten, Buffy, True Blood, Twilight, Ann Rice's Lestat books and Dracula himself.

The Toronto Globe and Mail
The Ultimate Collection of Vampire Facts and Fiction

Death and immortality, sexual prowess and surrender, intimacy and alienation, rebellion and temptation. The allure of the vampire is eternal. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead, 3rd edition, explores the historical, literary, mythological, biographical, and popular aspects of one of the world?s most mesmerizing paranormal subject. This vast reference is an alphabetical tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the soul-sucking undead.

In the first fully revised and updated edition in a decade, Dr. J. Gordon Melton (president of the American chapter of the Transylvania Society of Dracula) bites even deeper into vampire lore, myths, reported realities, and legends that come from all around the world. From Vlad the Impaler to Dracula and from modern literature to movies and TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood, Twilight, and The Vampire Lestat, this exhaustive guide furnishes more than 400 essays to quench your thirst for facts, biographies, definitions, and more.

About J. Gordon Melton, PhD

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.


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