A History of the Undead: Mummies, Vampires and Zombies

by Charlotte Booth

A history of Western culture’s fascination with undead creatures in film and television.

Are you a fan of the undead? Watch lots of mummy, zombie and vampire movies and TV shows? Have you ever wondered if they could be “real?”

This book, A History of the Undead , unravels the truth behind these popular reanimated corpses.

Starting with the common representations in Western media through the decades, we go back in time to find the origins of the myths. Using a combination of folklore, religion and archaeological studies we find out the reality behind the walking dead. You may be surprised at what you find . . .

Genres: Nonfiction, Zombies, History, Vampires

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2021

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another exciting sounding book from a publisher that seems to be adamantly against publishing nonfiction that’s exciting in any way other than the title. It’s quite peculiar, actually. They’ll take on fascinating subjects (like history of the undead) and turn them into something like a thesis, seemingly saying to the world…behold, we are a serious press. We press our books until all the juiciness is gone.
What remains are facts. Most of which are accurate. Mind you, that sentence should be all of which are accurate and it isn’t and I’m not even going to go into all of it and obviously this book isn’t large enough to cover all of it, but there were some glaring omissions…how does someone talk about modern day vampire fiction/cinema and not mention the excellent Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and it’s Swedish and American movie adaptations. In fact, the kid vampire angle is barely mentioned at all. Or…how do you discuss zombies and not mention the singular awesomeness of Word War Z, the seminal work of zombie literature. The inferior movie adaptation get coverage, but the author seems to not even be aware of the superior book it’s based on. On the tv shows…izombie isn’t a Netflix show, it can be watched on Netflix, but it is a CW production originally. There’s another show that got the cast completely wrong. Twilight is listed as five movies in total, presumably counting the extended versions, which are categorically not separate entities. Also, reader beware, a lot of endings revealed, though oddly enough mostly in the vampire section.
One sincerely hopes the historical accuracy and inclusiveness in this book was of a greater quality than the media sections. It seemed like it was, though I didn’t fact check.
So having all that been said, for a horror fiend, this is an interesting read. Maybe not a fun read as such (and I do prefer my nonfiction fun), but it’s educational and covers all the basics. I loved the three tier social class composition with mummies, zombies and vampires.
I knew lots of the material covered and learned a few new things too. It’s a perfectly serviceable primer for existing genre fans or those just daring to boldly go there. It’s just so freaking serious…the only hints of the author’s personality are in passing judgements, otherwise it’s just facts, complied and arranged facts, stats, data. Really much too bland for a genre that roars and growls and goes Boo in the night. And definitely not enough photos. So yeah, not the most animated account of the reanimated, but it’s a quick read and as a genre fan I appreciated it, so there’s that. Whatever creature of the night speaks to you or haunts the dark corners of your mind…if it’s one of the three covered here, you might enjoy learning a thing or two about them. Thanks Netgalley.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A History of Undead: Mummies, Vampires and Zombies by Charlotte Booth sounded like it would be right up my alley since it's about mummies, vampires, and zombies in media, legends behind them, and the real life history connected to them. There are some elements I liked about this short read. I liked looking into the progression of these monsters on the big and small screen, and some of the behind the scenes information - real history and legends behind them. My main issues are that it's quite dry, the errors and jumping around, and the overall feeling that I got while reading that the author isn't all that familiar with some of the subject matter. I was expecting this to fun and lighthearted read, but at times it reads like a dry college paper. I also noticed some factual errors, especially when it comes to the movies and tv shows she discusses and pretty much all of them could be solved with a quick googling. For example, she talks about the BBC's Being Human and mentions that Annie is played by Andrea Riseborough and Mitchell is played by Guy Flanagan. I'm a fan of that tv series and was really disappointed to see that she got even that basic bit of info about casting wrong. Those two actors only played those characters in the pilot, not the actual series that was greenlit based on the idea of that story. By the way, pretty much everyone except Russell Tovey's George was recast. That wasn't the only thing I noticed unfortunately, but that was the one that stood out the most to me. I also caught typos, but since this in an ARC that doesn't quite bug me as much. Like I said, based on some of those factual errors and how she talks about certain aspects of the movies and tv series which are a major part of this book it's makes it look like she doesn't know as much about her topic as she ought to be. Overall, those issues combined really interrupted my reading experience. I really wanted to enjoy this, but it just wasn't for me in the long run.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review of this book will be for a copy of the book that I borrowed from the local Library.
I would of prefer it if the author did include world mythology, folklore of beliefs about mummies, zombies and vampires, it would be interesting to know, hopefully the author will write about that in another book.
For all the authors, short stories, or gothic horror stories about Egyptian mummies how could the author not even mention Nyarlathotep by H.P. Lovecraft even once?
It is related to what the author has written about Egyptian mummies and the fictional story is about the Egyptian mummy Nyarlathotep in his Cthulhu Mythos.
I'm going to read the vampire chapter next then read the zombie chapter, since I love vampires so much. Anything about vampires (except Twilight) is something I will love.
The chapters about the mythology, folklore and beliefs about vampires is really interesting.
People that are part of the Vampire Community/sub-culture fit into various subcategories and obviously the Sanguinarian, Psychic, Tantric or sexual vampires don't want to be associated with or confused by the "Vampire Lifestylers" or people that roleplay as a vampire.
There are various types of modern day spiritual vampires that exist and fit into a niche or sub category, some are spiritual, some practice witchcraft, some interact with people physically in-person or astrally.
I don't agree with the author that real vampires only drink human or animal blood, vampires have always fed on the blood, life-force energy and sexual energy, prana energy absorbed into the aura from the sun. The energy and life-force or soul energy/essence of a living person.
A vampire and their donor have a psychic bond and there is a energy exchange when the vampire feeds on the consensual donor (for blood or energy to feed the vampire)
Psychic vampires are just as prevalent as sanguinarian vampires, other types of vampires such as tantric vampires aren't even mentioned.
Vampires astral projecting to interact with and feed on the energy/sexual energy of a willing person that gave their consent is also never mentioned as well.
There are not a lot of books that include world mythology, folklore of vampires, so it would be interesting to read about it.
I will definitely buy a copy of this book.

[Ionia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good in the beginning and I was enjoying it, but it became rather dry toward the middle. I liked the subject matter for the most part, but when it devolved into discussions that were mostly about films, I kind of lost interest.

The author writes in a clear and concise voice and the book is easy to follow, I just don't think it was quite what I expected it to be. For people who are majorly into movies and TV shows this would be a really good choice, but for me, I was hoping for more about the actual history of belief in these creatures.

Overall, it was worth the time to read and there were some portions of it that I truly did enjoy. It is worth checking it out.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Sharon Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of the Undead: Mummies, Vampires and Zombies by Charlotte Booth is a nonfiction book currently scheduled for release on January 31 2021. Are you a fan of the undead? Watch lots of Mummy, zombie and vampire movies and TV shows? Have you ever wondered if they could be 'real'? This book unravels the truth behind these popular reanimated corpses. Starting with the common representations in Western Media through the decades, we go back in time to find the origins of the myths. Using a combination of folklore, religion and archaeological studies we find out the reality behind the walking dead. You may be surprised at what you find.

A History of the Undead is an informative, entertaining, and engaging read. I like that the author acknowledges the amount of information of the subjects in the world, and that they are only tackling a fairly small segment of it. By focusing only on the subject in one part of the world she was able to get a great deal of detail about the undead in Western culture. If they had tried to tackle the whole world this would have had to be a multi-volume set. Although, I would not mind seeing this fleshed out to a more inclusive and expansive series including all cultures. I enjoyed seeing stories I knew from history, and some of the entertainment items I have enjoyed get mentioned. I was sad to see some things I thought would have added to the book left out (particularly a couple zombie books that stood out to me) and mentioning certain movies (like Dark Shadows) without referring to the television series that it was based on. However, I also got a chance to get the names for some books, movies, and games that I have missed over the years and will now get to enjoy. These subjects are vast, and while there where some missing things along the way, and some chooses in wording of information here or there that had me less than thrilled, I think the author did a good job of getting the information compiled in a readable and engaging fashion. The recovered English major that I am, I was thrilled to see proper citing of sources, et all. Way too often I see nonfiction materials for a variety of audiences that fail to do so.

A History of the Undead is a well written and researched introduction to the evolution of mummies, zombies, and vampires in western cultures, entertainment, and media.

[Vivienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to Pen & Sword History for granting my wish for a review copy of ‘The History of the Undead: Mummies, Vampires and Zombies’ by Charlotte Booth.

This work of nonfiction combines history, folklore, and popular culture to explore the concept of reanimated corpses from ancient Egyptian mummies and Haitian zombies, both of which only relatively recently became part of the horror fiction genre, and vampires that have a longer history, especially in European folk legends.

I have enjoyed horror literature and films for most of my life as well as have an interest in folklore and mythology, so had encountered much of the information contained within. Still, it was interesting to have it gathered in one place.

Charlotte Booth is a British archaeologist, who has written a number of books on Ancient Egypt. She brings a scholarly approach to the book; so it contains copious notes, a bibliography, an index and a number of illustrations.

There is no doubt about Booth’s academic credentials yet there were a few errors linked to popular culture that jumped out at me. These came from referenced works but did make me wonder how knowledgeable she was about the subject matter to not have noticed the mistakes made by the other writers.

Overall, I did feel that it find it provided a useful overview of the subject of the undead. However, I did feel that it was rather dry in places, something that might be linked to Booth’s academic approach but didn’t make the book particularly zing with enthusiasm.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of the Undead is a great book on everything undead. From pop media, to cultural phenomenon, to ancient myths and superstitions, this book has everything you need to know about zombies, vampires, and mummies. Many basic myths and superstitions about these restless souls are covered, as well as many other fascinating facts that are not as commonly known.

Charlotte Booth clearly demonstrates she is a tour de force on all things undead. Of course the mainstays are covered from pop culture like Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dawn Of The Dead, Twilight, The Mummy, Nosferatu, Vlad The Impaler, Walking Dead, and everything in between. There is also a lot of history into the processes that were created and the beliefs that were held that eventually propelled these creatures to what we know them as today. With Zombies originating in Haitian history and culture, mummies of course being mysterious enigmas with terrifying curses wrote amongst their tombs, to the belief of individuals raising from the dead and strangling their neighbors and stealing their life-forces.

This intriguing and fun history will have you turning page after page, devouring the knowledge of the undead like a zombie devouring brains,

[Christopher Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitle: Mummies, Vampires and Zombies

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

As stated in the subtitle, this book examines mummies, vampires, and zombies. For each of those three topics, the book delves into their portrayal in popular culture and the historical underpinnings for each type of monster. For vampires, there is an additional chapter about people who have chosen to pursue the vampire lifestyle.

While I enjoyed the pop culture chapters the most - movies, books, television, etc. - I was surprised at how much I learned from the historical section on mummies. Before reading this book, I'd never have suspected that ground up mummies were so popular for medicinal purposes that a shortage of available mummies resulted in the mummification of freshly dead human and animal corpses. I also know more now about the history of voodoo zombification and the burial/re-burial of suspected vampires than I did beforehand.

I gave A History of the Undead four stars on Goodreads. While some of the historical portions made for repetitive and sometimes dull reading, I can't deny that I learned a lot from reading this book - and that counts for something.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a primer for anyone interested in the titular three subjects. That's all it is. Read it and then move on to more comprehensive dealings of the matter.

Firstly, this book is littered with typos. Plenty of them and they are distracting. The author needs to sue her copyeditor. It's unbelievably bad - even the reference list (called 'Notes' for some reason) has them (Mukjerjea or Mukherjea?).

Second, like a few other reviewers have noted, the author's interest and/or knowledge of some of her subject matter seems superficial and ad hoc. Sure, she's an Egyptologist, but she's definitely going ultra vires on the subject of zombies, which comes across as a synopsis written by a factual outsider. It's like she pulled the subject out of a hat and then condescended to write something about it.

Thirdly, the tone. This a dry, matter of fact account with little if any personality or humour contained within. It comes across as the first draft of a deadly serious thesis rather than being a comprehensive breakdown of three horror tropes that are frequently represented as comical and farcical.

[Laura Newsholme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly interesting look at Mummies, Zombies and Vampires both in fictional representations and the legends that they are based upon. Charlotte Booth devotes 2 chapters to each Undead figure (3 for vampires), covering books and movies and then delving into the folklore and legends of each. Whilst the structure was compelling and the research was obviously detailed, I did find this to be a bit pedestrian in pace, with the fictional chapter often feeling like a chronology of books and film adaptations with little explanation as to why these representations were important and the folklore chapters feeling a bit muddled, jumping around from point to point with limited cohesion. Overall, this didn't break much new ground for me, but it is definitely a good jumping off point for those with an interest in the horror icons of the past.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Teresa Grabs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love learning about mummies, vampires, and zombies so this book was right up my alley... however, very little new information or perspectives were included (which is fine, especially if you haven't read much on them). The first section, Mummies, was more historical and, in my opinion, great to see someone discussing all the ways Victorians used mummies. Note that most of the book is Western-focused, and so I wouldn't really consider this a "history" book. The use of contemporary television, movies, and books was fun but also dated the author's manuscript as actors and popular shows change. Overall, this was a nice, quick read.

Thank you NetGalley and Pen & Sword History for the opportunity to read an advance reader's copy.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this book, and dive a bit deeper into the popular culture that has arisen around mummies, vampires and zombies. There has been no shortage of books or films about the subjects, which opens so many more doors to other possibilities.

While I enjoyed the book overall, the first part seemed to really fly by - engaging, interesting, and full of some fabulous information. I did find that the book felt really slow and tedious on the last half - which in no way detracts from the beginning, but just made it harder to sit and finish out the final portion.

Overall, decently done and well rounded. A fun look into how this morphed into popular culture and what we have today!

Thank you to Pen and Sword and Edelweiss who granted me an e-copy for an unbiased review.

[Rosemarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Pen & Sword for my review copy. I'm going to read the authors book about ancient Egypt next.

I liked the way the author wrote the chapters as individual essays, because they can be dipped into, and the illustrations. It is a good introduction to the subject, and the author states that it is an introduction not the be-all-end-all on the subject, but it was a bit dry at times and there were some errors. It would have been good to have a summation chapter drawing all the thought lines together.

[Jazz Nightingale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley & Charlotte Booth for this ARC.

This was a really interesting read! As someone interested in things that go bump in the night, it was a nice change to read something other than vampire romance.

The book is very well written, with chapters on each subject which I loved, as sometimes it's easy to get lost when all the information is mixed together.

5 stars, will definitely purchase a copy!

[Georgi_Lvs_Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting read on the history of the undead.

At times, I wasn’t completely absorbed hence the rating of this book.

However, this was really mind opening and intriguing.

Beware of spoilers of books, movies and tv shows, which is easy enough to skip if you don’t want the story ruined for you.

Perfect read for non-fiction/history readers.

[Rowena Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of this book, but I felt that there was nothing really new or groundbreaking in the book and in some places the writing was a little dry for the subject matter. Still, it was an interesting read, and I think this book will appeal to many people, it just wasn't quite what I was looking for.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look into the history of mummies, zombies and vampires. Lots of facts about finds, films and more. Well worth a read if you enjoy the undead!

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a well researched, entertaining and interesting book that I enjoyed.
I liked it and it's recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Very dry, a list of mentions in books and films.

[Arjun · Rating 3 out of 5]

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9 Oct
Chapter 6
The Modern Vampire