J. Gordon MeltonCritiques

Dated (1986) but still interesting. Compiler J. Gordon Melton doesn’t allow a shred of skepticism to creep into his accounts, even when describing people like George Adamski (who conversed telepathically with a man from Venus), William Morrison Branham (who claimed to be a messenger of the last days with the spirit of Elijah), Father Major Jealous Divine (better look him up), Ervil Morrell LeBaron (better look him up, too), James Warren Jones (of Jonestown, Guyana, notoriety), William Miller (who predicted the world would end on October 22, 1844), Cyrus Reed Teed (who taught the Earth was hollow and we live inside it); Melton treats all their claims at face value. (To be fair, I’ve picked out some of the weirder ones in the list above; most of the people were at worst harmless and at best quite decent folks with genuine compassion and love for their fellows. The book concludes with a summary by religious tradition, so if you want to track down Adventists or Methodists or Theosophists, you can. (Scientology is notably absent; perhaps Melton felt it was too risky to get involved with Scientologists, even in a dictionary). No bibliography, but each entry has a list of relevant publications, either by or about the person referenced. Interesting; I wonder if there’s an updated version?

The most comprehensive source of vampire knowledge on the market! This is easily the quickest recommendation I can make to any vampire lover and horror fan to expand their collection. This giant encyclopedia closes in on 1000 pages of dictionary-style entries that cover everything you ever needed to know and wanted to know about vampires or vampire adjacent things! I have cruised this book countless times cover to cover, and it shows its age and love well judging by the cover that's peeling and the binding that is cracking. It has held up for over 15 years and is still in fairly acceptable condition. It was made to take a beating and survive a long life, just like its title creature. It explores everything from nonfictional history to fictional entries of vampiric beasts throughout the timeline. Movies, characters, and other famous works are constantly referenced and studied in this book, so you get a fair balance of it all. You have visuals throughout the encyclopedia as well, so it isn't just walls of text on text. The book even comes with an entertaining flipart of a bat flapping its wings in the corners of the pages when you flip through :) I like to have strong opinions on what I read, so this book is far from being boringly exhaustive. This book does not deserve anything less than 5 stars.

Fabulous reference book--great for authors and people interested in the mythology behind vampires.

This is a fascinating look at all things vampire. Whether you're interested in the folk stories behind vampire, the most popular (pre-Twilight) vampire books/movies/television shows this is a great resource to have.

Found in Beijing at Bookworm library (http://www.beijingbookworm.com/) and read drinkin' a lot of american (bad)coffee ^_^

The eighth edition of the work produced by the Institute for the Study of American Religion contains descriptions, statistics, and documentation on over 2300 religious groups in the United States and Canada. The work begins with three introductory essays: "The Development of American Religion," "Religion in Canada: A Historical Survey, 1500 to the Present," and "American Religion in the 21st Century" which are primarily authored by J. Gordon Melton, Director of the Institute with help from associate director James Beverly. Both men have well established academic credentials as do the collaborators on various sections of the work.
Groups are gathering into chapters representing faith traditions, most with a well documented introductory essay. Selection of chapter titles: Western Liturgical Family (includes Roman Catholic Church); Pietist-Methodist Family; Lutheran Family; Pentecostal Family; Baptist Family; Latter-day Saints Family; Western Esoteric Family !-!V (includes Theosophy, New Age, Christian Science, Wicca); Middle Eastern Family (includes Judaism and Islam); Eastern Family (includes Hinduism and Buddhism); and Unclassified Groups, both Christian and other.
A Geographical Appendix cross references major The "Defunct Appendix" lists groups that no longer exist. A geographical index and master index provide two ways to locate entries of interest.
A potential challenge of using this resource, both practically and philosophically, is classifying groups within faith families when the choice is a judgment of the editors such as including the churches of the Stone-Campbell Movement under "Baptist Family." Melton tries to justify such choices, either in related essays or descriptive notes.
As in any work of this scope, addition of the most recent religious developments such as the newly built BAPS Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Lilburn, GA will need to wait for the next edition.

A little dated as it references pop-culture of its time, but an excellent encyclopeida of everything vampiric.

Amazingly complete reference. Includes entries that go beyond vampires to general folklore. Recommended to those whose interest in vampires might be more minimal, since the breadth of the text goes beyond the undead.½

I love, love, love, love, love this book! It has absolutely anything and everything about vampires and related topics that anyone would ever need to know about! It includes legend, mythology, and folklore, as well as movies, and books that include vampires in them. Wonderful book to own for anyone who's obsessed with vampires!

Extremely thorough and expansive in terms of looking at the vampire as a literary, cinematic, mythological and cultural phenomenon--you'll find entries on everything from fan clubs to breakfast cereals, as well as how various cultures (Germany, India, China, etc.) interpret the vampire. One drawback: since the book was published in 1998, it misses out on internet culture; a revised/updated edition would be a fun read.

This is an essential book for any vampire fan. An amazing list of over 600 vampire movies. Great descriptions. Very detailed. Some great behind the scenes stories.

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