The Book of Werewolves

This is easily a 4.5-star for me.

Not just 4-star, but also not quite 5-star either. Which I'll explain below on why.

For now, I'll say that I really loved this book a lot more than I thought I would. I thought this was going to be a generally dry read I'd struggle with, as there are really not many literary works regarding werewolves that I like, much less ones from before the 20th century.

Oh no. It wasn't. Despite having been written in the 1860s, the language is extremely clear, precise, and contemporary. There's no flowery purple prose that tries to make the subject seem vastly more interesting than it's supposed to be. Everything is explained well, to the point, and matter-of-factly, and is very easy to understand, with only a few show more words here and there that I had to look up.

What I really like is how logical this book is as well. I'm going to be very clear right now and say that this is NOT a literary book. You're going to find stories, yes, but they're more like case studies. It's not meant to be a storytelling book but an explanation of where the werewolf myth possibly started, how it evolved, and what it became.

It does this by delving into early folklore. From the Vikings and how their berserkers would usually imbibe potent narcotics, dress themselves in animal skins, and become ferocious. From the Greeks and how their gods would shed skins or put them on when changing forms. From Celtic, to Gallic, to Iberian, and even Middle Eastern, some aspects of the legends were similar in design but differed by culture.

From there, Sabine Baring-Gould explained in the medieval ages how the legends took parts of those ancient stories - from the skins, to the 'salves,' to religious fervor and more - to include them in their stories and how people also used it to explain how they as well became werewolves.

And then it connected the physical with the mental, explaining how mental issues (which at the time he wouldn't have understood, but what we know today is possible schizophrenia) could warp a person's perception of the world and allow them to believe they became werewolves.

I came in expecting this book to be just a collection of reports and more, with nothing else, but actually came away feeling like I learned something. Which is rather rare, considering this is an old book, over 170 years old, about werewolves in an era before modern medicine and modern psychiatric care. I came for what I thought was the gothic, but came away with an education and a better understanding of how modern European werewolf tropes are connected.

So, I said at the beginning that this is easily a 4.5-star for me. What was the reason I knocked off half a star for?

Mainly because, despite how well Sabine Baring-Gould connected the ancient mythologies to the (then) modern mental ailments that led to werewolf stories being seen as more of a mental malady, he includes a case that I had a hard time understanding how they were connected to Werewolves.

Gilles de Rais.

While Gilles de Rais is a... interesting (and I use the term lightly) study in serial killer and sadistic behavior, there was no clear way that it was connected to the Werewolf myth. This wouldn't have been an issue if it had been a small part, and maybe some of the more outlandish, unverifiable urban legends surrounding his actions could have been discussed. Instead, it was a considerable part of the book and really got into the weeds on the case to the point I was starting to wonder if Sabine Baring-Gould put two books together, or at least the copy I had.

Nope. So I'm left scratching my head how it was connected to the werewolf legend, and hence is what kept it from being a perfect 5/5 for me.

Final Thoughts

In the end, I'm getting myself a physical copy of the book. I had only the public domain version from Project Gutenberg with a few of the illustrations from a 1890 edition, but this is one that I - as a werewolf in real life - want to have leather-bound in my personal library. Preferably an edition which expands on the sources that Sabine Baring-Gould mentions, with more ancient art reprints, and more that I can sink my teeth into. show less

This book provided me with horrific entertainment for many a night. I first came across this book about 5 years ago, but I did not read further than the author's preface back then, thinking it to be some medieval superstitious author's work. But this time, when I gave it a go, I was surprised that the author, despite being a churchman was a most rational and scientific-minded person (I am ashamed to admit that this was a discovery to me, that churchmen aren't superstitious bumpkins as a rule, but now I know better). This was a most informative work, and a pleasure to read. The medieval illustrations reproduced herein really helped make the "atmosphere". And this is not just folklore and myth, but the author of this work expends no small show more amount of efforts to bring to light the psychological conditions behind the were-wolf, that might have lead to the origin and sustenance of the myth. show less

This was quite a trip. Winding and occasionally racist, and it likely didn't help that the free edition I downloaded from the B&N nook store was poorly formatted. It's interesting, and I appreciated several key things about it--its age, its statements as to what educated people believed at the time of the writing, the fact that most original texts were presented alongside their translations.

It might be short, but it's a slog and it's not for the faint of heart. The last quarter of the book is only tangentially about werewolves. I wouldn't have gotten all the way through it if I didn't need to for grad school.

A detailed examination of the werewolf myth, first published in 1865.

This was quite an enjoyable book. Baring-Gould adopts a pleasing style, and he's structured his arguments well. He presents a wide variety of werewolf myths, then puts them in context with some discussion of their cultural and psychological antecedents. He's also devoted a great deal of time to historical and judicial records that describe individuals who may or may not have believed themselves to be werewolves or who exhibited werewolf-like behavior. The result is a readable, anthropological take on the mythos that sometimes covers surprising ground.

The book isn't without fault, though. Since Baring-Gould was writing in the 1860's, his scholarship is somewhat dated. show more There's a lot of ethnocentrism amd Eurocentrism, (though he does deal with some Eastern myths and one North American tale), and he seems to take the idea of primitivism for granted when he speaks of other cultures. As a previous reviewer has mentioned, he also neglects to translate many of his quotations from their original languages. This might not be a problem for the average 19th century parson, but I doubt many modern readers will have as little trouble.

Overall, though, this is certainly worth checking out if you have any interest in werewolves in particular or folklore in general. show less

It was interesting to read The Book of Werewolves so soon after finishing The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood (whose notes mention Baring-Gould's book). Especially interesting to me were the short folkloric accounts of werewolves, and different languages' words for lycanthropes. Sadly, Baring-Gould doesn't always translate the Latin, French, and Greek works he cites...and since I remember little enough Latin and even less French and never knew Greek...well...yeah. Still, a really interesting read for anyone with occult/folklore/medieval interests.

Overall a rather interesting book, and obviously a must-read if you're wanting to explore werewolf literature.
What marked it down for me was that some passages were all too brief, whereas in other cases the book digressed away from the main theme too much, or for too long.

This author has really done the research. This is a fascinating book on the origins of the werewolf myths and links them to vampires and ghouls. There are interesting and obscure references to the beginning of the beliefs and many enthralling accounts of actual events and cases where the perpetrators were brought to trial. It is much more than a 'Book of Werewolves' - more like a historical reference to everything that chills the blood.