Forests of The Vampire

Myth and Mankind

by Charles Phillips, Michael Kerrigan

Slavic Myth When the thread had unrolled Marusia began to follow its path. Down the lane and across fields and ditches it took her- then passed straightunder the bolted door of a church. Marusia climbed up a convenient window to discover what was going on inside- and nearly fell down in fright. before the altar in a open coffin a body had been laid out for a funeral the next day. There knelt her lover, calmly eating the corpse. Marusia meant to steal secretly away, but in her panic she slipped and fell noisily to the ground. Plunging headlong across the fields, she arrived home safely, still fearful that she might have been seen.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Vampires, Folklore, Research

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads

Charles Phillips (b. 1962) is an established writer of popular history, a contributor to Cassell's Dictionary of Modern Britain as well as to the Chronicle of Britain and several illustrated stories.

He has a keen interest in the mythology and history of the great Maya and Aztec civilizations and was a key writer on Time Life's Myth and Mankind series.
Phillips is a graduate of Oxford University, and holds an MA from the University of Westminster.

See also:
Charles Phillips, 1787-1859
Charles Phillips, Goodreads author, Historical Fiction
Charles Phillips, b.1948, American history

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had a coffee table, this would be a book for it. I have read much better anthologies of Slavic folklore but I really liked this one just for the pictures.

[Lucia · Rating 3 out of 5]

*actual rating 3.5 stars*

This book marks my long and exciting journey of reading vampire literature as that´s what I´ve chosen to write my Master´s thesis about. It was an okay start to say the least.

The title is a bit misleading as the book contains maybe four pages about vampires in the middle and dedicates maybe two more pages about them at the end. Therefore, the aim of this book isn´t to introduce vampires as a Slavic myth, but offer basic information about Slavic most popular myths, including Baba Yaga, rusalka or various pagan gods.

It is a book for beginners or for when you crave non-fiction that is easy to comprehend. If you already have some type of background when it comes to Slavic culture and history, I don´t think you´ll find anything new here.

What I really enjoyed and appreciated about this were the chosen illustrations and pictures and the fact that sometimes whole stories and folktales were included to introduce a certain myth.

[Colleen Villasenor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my least favorite of this series so far. The title is, to say the least, misleading. There were only about three pages dedicated to vampire myths, and one of those was just referencing vampires in movies. This book, like all of the books in this series, is only 137 pages long, but the pages are oversized, and the beginning third of this book is a text dense history of the Slavs. The rest is a cursory overview of Slavic myth largely related to religion, both pagan and Christian. I had hoped to learn more about vampire legends. Even Baba Yaga got a scant couple of pages. I would have liked more legend and less history in a book called Forests of the Vampires.

[Liv · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very russso-centric, not as much written about vampires as the title suggests

[Naomi Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all about early Slavic culture - although the title makes it seem more about Vampires. I'm grateful to the Amazon reviewers who pointed this out. The Myth and Mankind books are just so nice. They're basic, but really solid. Great illustrations. Good references in the back. I have the Mesopotamian one that I brought with me form New York and I'm hoping to re-read it sometime in 2021. Anyway. I liked it and have already recommended it to someone.

[Ashlee Draper Galyean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great read to get a feel for Slavic stories and culture. It keeps most of the content pretty surface level but by so doing is able to cover a lot of ground and give context for the tales it includes. Very helpful and insightful.

[Em · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely russo-centric and centered around the Christianized versions of what is supposed to be *pagan* Slavic mythology. It is much more history and talks about Christianity and inaccurate versions of folklore and has minimal information on Slavic pantheons as a whole, not just Russian stories. (I am saying this as a pagan Polish person) Very disappointed.

[Paul Groos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prima aflevering in deze reeks. Duistere wouden vol sinistere wezens, die mooie verhalen opleveren. Lang niet slecht naverteld, voorzien van veel historische context en (zoals altijd) geïllustreerd met net niet helemaal relevante plaatjes.

[Astrid Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations, heavy emphasis on the Russian culture, no vampires. I liked the dive-in into the history of the early Slavs; this is something I don't see much. I also liked the inserts of the folk tales, most of which I haven't read before.

[Judith Liebaert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is much more than what the title implies. It's difficult to find credible books on Slavic folklore. This one is definitely worth the read, delving into far more than just the vampire lore which originated in the slavic culture.

[Rick Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of Slavic Myths and legends, with a little Russian history thrown in.

[Loretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

So interesting!!! I love folklore and myths

[Galaxy Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked this book better then the other two - Celtic and Native American - that I've read. While the stories themselves are scattered throughout, not very thorough, and almost glossed over, there's quite a lot of solid history in this one that I enjoyed, especially the history about the myths themselves. While this is not a great book to read if you're searching for myths and stories, it's a fascinating read overall.

[Lyndsey Silveira]

This book is a good introduction to Slavic myth, even though the title "Slavic myth" is a bit misleading. The book is very Russo-centric, which sometimes seems unavoidable. The book is valuable more for its entertainment value than for its academic merit, but it provides a basic, quick-and-dirty history of the Slavs (again, mostly Russia) and their religious beliefs. Parts of it may be boring to people who have been introduced to the topic before, but the book's format is engaging, there are plenty of pictures (though some of the illustrations are kind of strange and ugly, in a style that doesn't quite work with the subject matter). Rest assured that the book isn't all about vampires, they feature very briefly. Like any historical or pseudo-historical work, read it with a grain of salt and read plenty more on the subject if you want to learn.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, it's just not that easy to find a book about Slavic myth. I guess I just wasn't looking in the kids section. For a junior book, this one is pretty good about relating the sometimes violent and morbid legends. Don't be fooled by the title - there's not much about vampires. Sorry, Twi-hards. There is a smattering of myths and some good references and pictures, some of which I have been unable to find elsewhere. For that alone, it get 4 stars.

[Mikel C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book about vampires, but more about the past history and migration of the Slavic people, their religions, legends and ideals. The book does discuss vampires as well as other creatures of the Carpatian lands as well. If you are intrigued by the history of Eastern Europeans I highly reccommend this book.

[Coleen Dailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading myths and legends of other countries. These books are great because not only do you get the stories but artwork to show how important this was in everyday life. This book contained a lot of folkart which was beautiful.

[Mira Domsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting histroy of Slavic culture and myth, but not a lot of vampires :( I didn't finish reading it, I only read the bits about vampires and Baba Yaga.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't actually finished this book. It's one of those 'works in progress' that I pick up and read a section of every now and again. Interesting stuff. Great introduction to Slavic mythology.

[Patrick McFarland · Rating 5 out of 5]

With so few books available concerning Slavic mythology, it was a real pleasure to discover this little gem.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good popular intro- knew very little about slavic myths/folklore. know i know more and how it fits in.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to Slavic folklore and traditions for English readers. Haven't encountered many other books like this one.

[Katenik Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a lot of great info on the history of Slavic culture, and some shorter stories. It is not a book of just the folktales themselves, but having the history puts the folktales in context.