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An authoritative take on the history of the vampire. -New York Times Book Review Nick Groom concludes this invigorating study of vampires by suggesting that we should try to be a bit more like them. Thankfully this doesn't entail hanging shiftily around blood donor banks . . . Rather, Groom wants us to think about vampires as a way of re-enchanting the contemporary human condition. -Kathryn Hughes, Guardian (Book of the Day) 'Colossally smart. . . Groom is interested in undead Byron, but he is more interested in the aspects of vampirology that pop culture tends to neglect. . . It is a great relief to meet Groom's vampire, still icy from the void and unburdened by the aesthetic of Gothic nightingale-lite. When it materializes, on the threshold of a worrisome dream, it looks nothing like what one expected. . . -Katy Waldman, New Yorker Groom impressively manages to analyze vampires' influence on almost every facet of private and public life-social, theological political, medical, cultural, sexual, literary-over the span of four centuries. -Regina Munch, Commonweal Formidably well-researched study - Kevin Jackson, Literary Review With the unflappable pace of a phantom coachman, Groom takes us to year zero - an outbreak of vampire panics stemming from the Serbian communities of the Austrian Empire's newly acquired Balkan marches. -All About History Printed with a number of vibrant and shocking illustrations and plates, this is a fascinating work of both cultural history and literary criticism. -Sean Hewitt, Irish Times The historical sections of this study are wonderfully nuanced, carefully argued takes on the vampire as a specific monstrous manifestation...Groom's contention that the vampire cannot and should not be conflated with other monsters and his evidence against an inaccurate history of it as an ancient folkloric superstition are groundbreaking and refreshing. -Elizabeth Bridgham, Wilkie Collins Journal In this erudite and engaging history of the vampire Nick Groom explores the blood sucker's journey through the European Enlightenment and beyond, illuminating broader aspects of religion, medicine and culture on the way. In doing so, Groom provides us with a valuable prehistory of the literary Dracula. -Owen Davies, author of Grimoires Groom succeeds in contextualising the vampire thoroughly, for the first time, in the changing cultures of two hundred years of European history: a remarkable achievement. -Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch Likely to be the definitive history of the vampire for years to come. In an accessible yet deeply scholarly dive into the archives of medicine, folk-lore, travel writing, theology, politics and literature, Groom produces a compelling account of the vampire as the product of the Enlightenment's clash with its superstitious Eastern other from the seventeenth century onwards. A blood feast that will sustain every kind of vampirologist, from teen Goth up to Professor Van Helsing. -Roger Luckhurst, author of Zombies Our centuries-long fascination with the living dead is given a fresh and welcome consideration by Nick Groom, who mines historical reality-and unreality-with a keen appreciation of cultural meaning and metaphor. -David J. Skal, author of Something in the Blood

An authoritative take on the history of the vampire. --New York Times Book Review Nick Groom concludes this invigorating study of vampires by suggesting that we should try to be a bit more like them. Thankfully this doesn't entail hanging shiftily around blood donor banks . . . Rather, Groom wants us to think about vampires as a way of re-enchanting the contemporary human condition. --Kathryn Hughes, Guardian (Book of the Day) 'Colossally smart. . . Groom is interested in undead Byron, but he is more interested in the aspects of vampirology that pop culture tends to neglect. . . It is a great relief to meet Groom's vampire, still icy from the void and unburdened by the aesthetic of Gothic nightingale-lite. When it materializes, on the threshold of a worrisome dream, it looks nothing like what one expected. . . --Katy Waldman, New Yorker Groom impressively manages to analyze vampires' influence on almost every facet of private and public life--social, theological political, medical, cultural, sexual, literary--over the span of four centuries. --Regina Munch, Commonweal There are plenty of fiction and nonfiction titles about vampires out there for fans of the Dracula legend, but few cover as much ground as Nick Groom's upcoming book, The Vampire. Out this October, this thoroughly researched history of one of horror's most iconic creatures explores the legend through the lenses of art, literature, medicine, culture, religion, and so much more. --Sadie Trombetta, Bustle.com We all know about Dracula, yet Bram Stoker's masterpiece represents the culmination of what Nick Groom - an academic sometimes known as the 'Prof of Goth' - calls 'the preceding two centuries of vampirology.' In this dazzling history, he traces its trajectory, drawing on 'evidence from theological treatises to medical reports, travelogues to political allegories, and poetry and fiction to occult tractates, ' and reveals why the vampire 'can challenge us today as powerfully as it has done for nearly three centuries.' Touching on some of our deepest feelings about blood, gender, race, science and society, vampires, quite simply, are 'good to think with.' --Times Higher Education A vast undertaking--a tapestry of history, science, pseudoscience, theology, politics, and art. --Chris R. Morgan, Weekly Standard In this erudite and engaging history of the vampire Nick Groom explores the blood sucker's journey through the European Enlightenment and beyond, illuminating broader aspects of religion, medicine and culture on the way. In doing so, Groom provides us with a valuable prehistory of the literary Dracula. --Owen Davies, author of Grimoires Groom succeeds in contextualising the vampire thoroughly, for the first time, in the changing cultures of two hundred years of European history: a remarkable achievement. --Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch Likely to be the definitive history of the vampire for years to come. In an accessible yet deeply scholarly dive into the archives of medicine, folk-lore, travel writing, theology, politics and literature, Groom produces a compelling account of the vampire as the product of the Enlightenment's clash with its superstitious Eastern other from the seventeenth century onwards. A blood feast that will sustain every kind of vampirologist, from teen Goth up to Professor Van Helsing. --Roger Luckhurst, author of Zombies Our centuries-long fascination with the living dead is given a fresh and welcome consideration by Nick Groom, who mines historical reality--and unreality--with a keen appreciation of cultural meaning and metaphor. --David J. Skal, author of Something in the Blood

An authoritative take on the history of the vampire. -New York Times Book Review Nick Groom concludes this invigorating study of vampires by suggesting that we should try to be a bit more like them. Thankfully this doesn't entail hanging shiftily around blood donor banks . . . Rather, Groom wants us to think about vampires as a way of re-enchanting the contemporary human condition. -Kathryn Hughes, Guardian (Book of the Day) 'Colossally smart. . . Groom is interested in undead Byron, but he is more interested in the aspects of vampirology that pop culture tends to neglect. . . It is a great relief to meet Groom's vampire, still icy from the void and unburdened by the aesthetic of Gothic nightingale-lite. When it materializes, on the threshold of a worrisome dream, it looks nothing like what one expected. . . -Katy Waldman, New Yorker Groom impressively manages to analyze vampires' influence on almost every facet of private and public life-social, theological political, medical, cultural, sexual, literary-over the span of four centuries. -Regina Munch, Commonweal Formidably well-researched study - Kevin Jackson, Literary Review With the unflappable pace of a phantom coachman, Groom takes us to year zero - an outbreak of vampire panics stemming from the Serbian communities of the Austrian Empire's newly acquired Balkan marches. -All About History Printed with a number of vibrant and shocking illustrations and plates, this is a fascinating work of both cultural history and literary criticism. -Sean Hewitt, Irish Times In this erudite and engaging history of the vampire Nick Groom explores the blood sucker's journey through the European Enlightenment and beyond, illuminating broader aspects of religion, medicine and culture on the way. In doing so, Groom provides us with a valuable prehistory of the literary Dracula. -Owen Davies, author of Grimoires Groom succeeds in contextualising the vampire thoroughly, for the first time, in the changing cultures of two hundred years of European history: a remarkable achievement. -Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch Likely to be the definitive history of the vampire for years to come. In an accessible yet deeply scholarly dive into the archives of medicine, folk-lore, travel writing, theology, politics and literature, Groom produces a compelling account of the vampire as the product of the Enlightenment's clash with its superstitious Eastern other from the seventeenth century onwards. A blood feast that will sustain every kind of vampirologist, from teen Goth up to Professor Van Helsing. -Roger Luckhurst, author of Zombies Our centuries-long fascination with the living dead is given a fresh and welcome consideration by Nick Groom, who mines historical reality-and unreality-with a keen appreciation of cultural meaning and metaphor. -David J. Skal, author of Something in the Blood

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Nick Groom, known as the “Prof of Goth,” is professor of literature in English at the University of Macao.

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