Vlad Ţepeş

I'm a recent convert :)

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:46:05 GMT

Hi everyone :) I'm new here (obviously, xD) and I recently have become interested in Vlad the Impaler (via Bram Stoker's Dracula). I've read a bunch of essays and articles on-line, but I would now like to start picking up some books on Vlad. Does anyone here have some recommendations on a good, accurate, book about Vlad?

I'm nu!

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 02:37:19 GMT

Hello,

Not sure if anyone is still reading this cos by golly, it's a quiet little community!

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Violet Disregard...so named after my favourite cocktail...and I first discovered an interest in dear ol' Vlad in about May 2006. It was after watching Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula (in which, I have to say, Keanu Reeves gave the worst performance of his life...that I've seen anyway) and I randomly decided to look it all up on the internet. I very soon found my way onto the Wikipedia website where I read and read all about Vlad's adventures.

I've sort of been hooked ever since. The difficutly is that there is far more interest in Dracula than in Vlad so finding good information on the prince is proving to be less easy than I would like. I recently ordered a book from Amazon:

"Vlad III Dracula: The Life and Times of the Historical Dracula"
Kurt W. Treptow

Any good? I've read the large number of reviews on the Amazon site and found them to be mostly good so I figured I was onto a sure thing. Anyone here read it?

And can anyone here offer any advice on where/how to find good information on Vlad without all the vampire stuff? Like any good websites, other books and perhaps someone knows of some historians who specialise in this particular subject?

Thanks so much. Hope to hear from someone.....

Fri, 12 May 2006 02:54:08 GMT

Does anyone know where some of the original pamphlets from Germany or the accounts written in Muscovy on Vlad (since the German and Russian accounts differ) still exist or where I could see or possibly get copies?

I would greatly appreciate the help. ^_^

Hi...I'm new......

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 03:48:53 GMT

Hi all,

I can't believe I've been on LJ for about two years now and just found this community today! I just wanted to stop in and introduce myself. I'm 36 and have been a Dracula fan for well over 20 years. My other fav fandoms are vampires in general, Phantom of the Opera (since 1989)and the anime/manga Hellsing.

Feel free to read my LJ, Dracula-Phantom fanfic (I started writing in print zines back in the early 90s) and friend me. I enjoy making LJ buddies with people who share my interests:)

Take care all,
Dracschick

The Historian

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 01:46:03 GMT

::Pokes community::

Has anyone read here besides me read The Historian? I really loved it. What did everyone else think about it?

For those of you who are clueless .. ( Summary )

Recommended Reading

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 05:16:18 GMT

Sorry this took so long...had a crazy week and no sign of letting up yet!
This is a list some books that I have in my collection currently, I may have missed a few though. I'd recommend the first one in particular. If you can't find the item on Amazon, try ABEbooks.com. I think the Dracula hardcover novel can only be purchased at bn.com.

Vlad the Impaler / Dracula Historical Texts

Radu Florescu & Raymond T. McNally Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times
Little, Brown & Company 1994

A historically dense yet very rewarding read, you'll feel very educated on the subject by the time you finish this book! While the early parts of the book seem to contain redundant and only marginally relevant information, all the facts you accumulate will come to great fruition in the second half of the book as they enable you to grasp the situation fully and appreciate all the nuances and small-scale factors that make up the rich and fascinating story. The chapter on Dracula's 1462 campaign against the Turks is the highlight of the work, in my opinion.

~

Radu Florescu & Raymond T. McNally A Biography of Vlad the Impaler: 1431-1476 [OOP]
Hawthorn Books 1973

This book seems to be the lite version of the above text, a precursor if you will.

~

Radu Florescu & Raymond T. McNally In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires
Houghton Mifflin 1994
Buy from Amazon

~

M.J. Trow Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula
Sutton Publishing 2003
Buy from Amazon

Speculative / Fictionalized Texts
Raymond Rudorff The Dracula Archives [OOP]
Arbor House 1971

A fictionalized work consisting of a collection of supposed first hand historical sources.

~

Douglas Myles Prince Dracula: Son of the Devil [OOP]
McGraw-Hill 1988

A part factual - part fictionalized history of the character of Dracula. Takes many liberties with the facts.

~

Gabriel Ronay The Truth About Dracula [OOP]
Stein and Day 1974
Buy through ABEBooks

~

Leonard Wolf A Dream of Dracula: In Search of the Living Dead [OOP]
Little, Brown & Company 1972
Buy through ABEBooks

Related Fiction

Bram Stoker Dracula
Barnes & Noble Books 2004

There are many editions of Stoker's Dracula available, but this is a particularly nice new hardcover edition containing illustrations by Edward Gorey.

~

Anne Williams (Ed)
Three Vampire Tales:
Dracula (Bram Stoker)
Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu)
The Vampyre (John Polidori)
Houghton Mifflin 2003

A great way to get three seminal texts in one volume.

~

Raymond T. McNally A Clutch of Vampires [OOP]
New York Graphic Society 1994

A collection of 25 excerpts and short stories in the vampire vein.

Relevant Historical Texts

Peter Bondanella & Mark Musa (Eds) The Portable Machiavelli
Penguin 1979

Machiavelli is thought by many to employ a good deal of Vlad Dracula's notions on politics and statecraft.

~

Valentine Penrose & Alexander Trocchi The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory
Calder Publications 1970 (Creation 2000)

Born in Romania about 130 years after Dracula, Countess Bathory is thought to have murdered somewhere in the region of 650 people, mainly young girls, for the purpose of bathing in their blood.

Vampires / Occult

Konstantinos Vampires: The Occult Truth
Llewellyn Publications 2004

~

Montague Summers The Vampire in Lore and Legend
Dover Publications, Inc. 2001

~

Katherine Ramsland PhD The Science of Vampires
Berkley Boulevard Books 2003

~

Matthew Bunson The Vampire Encyclopedia
Gramercy Books 1993

Nicely priced hardcover book, lots of information.

~

Jean Marigny Vampires: Restless Creatures of the Night
Harry N. Abrams 1994

Very good-looking small format book, many pictures and titbits of information.

~

Elizabeth Miller Dracula
Parkstone Press 2000

Coffee table type book, out of print but there are still some hanging around ebay. The author said more were being printed but I've not seen any in mainstream circulation recently.

Fri, 20 May 2005 04:30:33 GMT

Hello! I've been interested in Vlad Tepes since I started researching vampires in 4th grade (i started young) and came upon his story while reading. I hope to learn more in this community about the fabulous impaler, who, with his amazing people skills, reduced crime to nearly nothing and made new and interesting trees out of spikes and people. Thanks :D

Welcome!

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:01:25 GMT

Welcome to my new community, for the discussion of the historical character of Vlad Ţepeş, the Impaler Prince. Discussion of the perpetuation of the character throughout history in various vampire forms is encouraged, as long as we bear in mind that the community is primarily intended to further interest in the actual person of Vlad the Impaler.

Please see the Info page for the few ground rules I thought necessary, and then dive on in!