Vlad the Impaler by M J Trow
For many, Vlad the Impaler is the bloodsucking torturer recreated in Hollywood's "Interview with the Vampire" and the real character so vitally realized 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 World War II, 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 title, the author peels back the layers of myth and history to reveal the 15th-century figure who was the real Vlad the Impaler.
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 workIf 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?"
M.J. Trow is a crime novelist and historian. He teaches history at a school on the Isle of Wight. His novels include the Lestrade series for Macmillan/Constable and the Maxwell series for Hodder. His non-fiction includes Who Killed Kit Marlowe? (Sutton,2000).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780750929653 |
| ISBN 10 | 0750929650 |
| Title | Vlad the Impaler |
| Author | M J Trow |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | The History Press Ltd |
| Year published | 2003-03-27 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |