| Title | : | Vlad the Impaler: A Life From Beginning to End |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 48 |
| Publication | : | Published October 2, 2016 |
The character Count Dracula is well-known throughout the world. He is a dark, seductive, pale man wearing a cape. His gaze is quite literally captivating, and he has the strength of ten men. The story, written by Bram Stoker in 1897, has been retold hundreds of times, but is there a historical figure upon whom the character is based? Is there really a Dracula? Many scholars argue that Vlad III Dracula, also known as
Vlad the Impaler: A Life From Beginning to End Reviews
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2.5 stars
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"There is no doubt that Vlad III Dracula made his mark on history. He was a harsh ruler and a cruel adversary, but it is also true that he was a gifted strategist. He was also, at times, an honorable ally."
To be honest, there wasn't much in this book that I didn't already know about Vlad the Impaler (also known as Vlad III, Vlad Tepes and Vlad Dracula.) But luckily that didn't take away any enjoyment in this book as I love reading about this controversial person in history. The few things I didn't know about him before reading this book were really interesting. It would also be perfect for readers who want to read and learn more about Vlad III.
To be clear, Vladd III is NOT Count Dracula. Bram Stoker only took his name and based his character of Dracula on Vlad III, although even this is being questioned still. We don't actually know if he indeed used the Impaler as inspiration aside from the name.
I've always been pretty intrigued by Vlad the Impaler and his complex personality. So this book was pretty compelling to me. My favorite chapter by far was 'War with the Ottomans, Vlad's main reign.' The Ottoman Empire also happens to be a favorite subject in history of mine. I always enjoy reading about it and the connection with Vlad III.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading about history, Vlad the Impaler, the Ottoman Empire or this era in history in general. With only 48 pages it's a quick and easily read book. -
A piece of romanian history
I've enjoyed this book about Vlad the Impaler. It describes a small part of romanian history. In my opinion is about honor and bravery, about alliances and treasons, about war and cruelty. Those were harsh times, and who knows how would this world look like today if things would have happened differently?
I've liked the way the book is structured and that it draws a clear line between true facts and fiction. Where possible, I would have liked to see more common names instead of "official" naming. For example Stephen lll of Moldavia is Stephen the Great.
For sure I will read more of Hourly History's publications. -
There wasn't much I already didn't know about the Prince of Wallachia but some things were totally new to me. I was always drawn to Vlad because of his fierceness and principles. As this book describes, the Western Europe succeeded in blackening and darkening his legacy but at the end of the day, he was also just the same as 99% of the rulers who dominated Europe at the time; cruel, vicious and unforgiving.
The book is well structured based on his life events. It also has a section about his role in the literature, which is much debated but still forced down the throat of the viewers. The only irritating part was the repetitive info in the conclusion section. No harm done though.
I believe he was a sadistic ruler when it came to his methods of punishments, specially the description of impaling was unbelievably cruel. But I suppose it was more merciful than Turks sawing people in half, burning people's eyes with hot rods and burying them alive and bronze bull and Leather Peeling of of Romans. So why is Vlad made the devil of all devils? I guess as the book also says, the painting of Eastern European devil by the Western Europeans, lead by yet another power hungry Eastern European, Corvinus, in order to cover betrayal and personal gains played a massive part in it.
I also think, the whole Dracula drama of Stoker and mixing Vlad up with the whole Transylvanian undead hangama is a definite mutilation and a rape of the Wallachian prince. How far does a mere meaning of a word goes is beyond imagination. The dragon became the devil and poor Vlad became an icon in the modern literature for all the wrong reasons.
For me, Vlad will always remain as a patriot and a brilliant war strategist. Just imagine if he had more man power at his disposal. It takes a lot to be commended by the enemy as a worthy assailant, specially at a time like that, one thing really struck me. It also takes will power and courage to resist his captors and keep his principles alive. The whole demonizing of Vlad Dracula is an unacceptable heresy in my eyes.
Book #39 of 2022. -
A very condensed biography on Vlad the impaler. We all know the horror stories and the author repeats those stories in here. My problem is the strange obsession with the violence and gore. He lists certain forms of torture used by Vlad in one of the chapters then repeats them later on in the book. He also explains the process used to impale a person and includes it twice in the book. These issues is why this book only gets one star.
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3.1
Interesting. Short. The author is thorough in his research. Even highlights that everything we read could be wrong.
Really the most interesting parts are learning about Wallachian and Moldavia in the mid 1400s. Turns out the world was a messed up place around then. Would not recommend visiting. -
Vlad the Impaler: A Life From Beginning to End by Hourly History
I enjoy reading the Hourly History books when I need a quick read between non-fiction books.
In real life He seems scarier than the character Dracula by Bram Stoker.
When I read the reasons for impaling and how it was done it scared the crap out of me.
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While lighter in detail than many articles I've read about good ol' Vladislav, this book does offer a decent overview of his life and legacy (especially for a book that co$t me nothing) and even had a few little factoids I hadn't seen elsewhere nestled in the text.
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he is my new historical crush <3
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Highly informative and great for research purposes.
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2.5 stars actually, I think.
It was concise and quick which is, I guess, what you’d expect from a book with “Hourly History” anywhere. I’m glad it was free. I didn’t learn anything new, but you might if you’re unfamiliar with the historical figure. I would suggest having a map of Romania on-hand and/or a pronunciation guide if you’re unfamiliar with the language. (That said, it’s just people names and place names so you might not need it unless you sound things out in your brain.) -
Poorly written
This book didn't tell me a single detail I didn't learn in a documentary on the History channel over twenty years ago. I guess this is a book for someone who knows nothing about the man. However, I give it one star because it felt like each chapter was written by a different person and no editor bothered to read it before just slapping it all together and calling it a book. The chapters were quite redundant to the point of being annoying. Overall it was quite disappointing. -
The Balkans, a region lying northwest of Turkey, chiefly containing the countries of Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria has always been a hotbed of conflict. It was here in on June 28, 1914, in the city of Sarajevo that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, eventually leading to the First World War. In later years, when the Communist dictator Josip Broz Tito died, Yugoslavia was soon cast into a civil war, divided by ethnic lines. This region and its peoples have a long history of war, inner strife, and turmoil. Their southern neighbors, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, coveted the lands to the north and war was a constant bedfellow.
Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, was born in 1431. He was to become the ruler of this area in present-day Romania, north of the River Danube, three separate times. He fought the Turks and practically all of his neighbors at one time or another. His affinity for impaling his prisoners (and anyone else that upset him), by forcing a pointed (but not too pointed) pole through the anus or vagina, righting them and letting gravity and their own body weight finish the job. He employed a number of other unspeakable methods to achieve his goal of scaring away future invaders and transgressors. I grant you that Vlad’s methods were both cruel and inhumane, but weren’t much different from those employed by his neighbors. Vlad’s infamy stems from an entirely different and unexpected quarter.
The Irish author Bram Stoker wrote a story that would unveil a world of perpetual darkness and forever strike fear in the hearts and minds of man. Count Dracula is purported to be based on this Middle Age devil, known as Vlad III Dracula.
The book openly admits that the relationship with this Prince of Wallachia and Bram Stoker’s vampire are based on supposition and pure speculation. Today, an account of Vlad’s treatment of his enemies is horrific but in fact, at the time, it was no worse than other rulers. Dracula has lifted him from the bloody pages of Balkan history and given him lasting infamy. The volume of turmoil and violence, before, during, and after his life, makes the book both hard to follow and swallow (without gagging). -
This took a couple of hours to finish and was obviously a good read. Keeping the spoilers at bay, this is a documentation of Vlad Dracula III the Voivode of Wallachia, also an inspiration for the Bram Stoker's notorious Character, Count Dracula.
The book serves the readers with crisp informations about the events of the life of Vlad III. The Ruler is known to be the cruelest of cruel beings ever walked the earth and is also titled as Vlad The Impaler, or Impaler Lord, for his most gruesome method of punishing his foes. Well, we already know that, but when you keep on reading the book, you'll get to know why he was written as the most villainous figure and why he is still a hero in his country's folklore.
We, as people believe facts which are easy and fun to read, and think very less about the authenticity of the facts, this book tries to debunk that, and does so perfectly I believe.
If one is tolerant of the religious issues happened in the past then this read is more for the ladies and gents who prefer to read history.
Being a Bram Stoker fan and played numerous games on vampires I have always been curious about Vlad Dracula, the character which inspired such a genre. I believe this book puts His image to justice. Is he a Hero? do you still consider him a Villain? that is up to you, but I believe he is a friend, who kept his word, and fought for his countrymen. Rest is upto the readers to decide.
Now who should read this book? Not everyone is fond of Historical events, so here is a list for it, you should definitely try this if you are
a person interested in horror stories,
a person interested in history and medieval era,
a person who wants a quick read while in a commute for two hours,
a person who wants to read different topics regardless of genre.
I hope this review was free of spoilers and would draw your mind to this Book.
Thank you. -
I picked this up because it was free on Kindle and fulfilled one of the achievements in the 2022 Year End Kindle Challenge.
It reads as a straight-forward, no fluff account of what we know (and what we can only make guesses at) regarding the life of Vlad the Impaler, presumed inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. The contributing author(s) at Hourly History traced Vlad, as the title suggests, from life to death, noting important moments, events, and relationships/connections in his life. There was only minimal speculation which sounded more like it came from sources than the author(s). As it promises, it does all this in less than an hour's worth of reading time. However, the last chapter is pretty much a copy/paste of lines rehashing what was said in the previous chapters, and so unnecessary. However, if you are looking for scholarly reliability, not a single source is cited in a bibliography, merely generalized in-text, then this is not where to turn. If you're just looking for a bite-sized overview and are willing to overlook a lack of sources, then this would fit the bill. -
I am glad this book was available for free. I am even more glad that the
Hourly History lives up to its name-of delivering history in an hour or so, that is.
I wanted to venture into the non-fiction category and history had always been my favorite area of study, some ages ago. A recommendation of this author was well placed on the ebook store and I decided to give it a shot. While editing is not one of the book's strong points, it's pretty concise and meticulously partitioned. Even the lines between facts and fiction have been drawn quite explicitly. A person having minimal knowledge of Dracula and its origins would surely find multiple points of note. It wraps up with a neat conclusion section.
While discussing the mystery around Vlad the impaler's death, the author writes-
In the end, it makes no difference. Vlad the Impaler has, in a sense, risen from the dead.
Such a perfect expression. We have indeed immortalized him by our works-so many of the past, so many more to come. -
Okay
If you are looking for a quick summary of his life, look somewhere else. It is a good way to pass thirty minutes of your time. Like other intros, it starts off good but unlike those, it ends up being a sensationalist. instead of dispelling the legends and myths surrounding Vlad III, this short book spends the last chapters, including the conclusion, giving some credibility to the more outrageous parts of Vlad's story.
There are plenty of efforts of excusing his enemies. Not so much this brutal Prince. Even though the author of this book admits that what makes Vlad unique isn't his method of killing and dealing with his enemies, but rather the number of people he killed in battle and punished for minor offenses; a lot more time is spent discussing the black legends about him and that they could be true. -
A short-and-sweet historical overview filled with interesting details and information. Read for personal research. I found this book's contents helpful and inspiring.
Overall, a good book for the researcher and enthusiast.
Non-Spoiler Excerpts:
"Unlike his fictitious counterpart, who is often portrayed as tall and handsome, Vlad III Dracula was described as a short man who was stocky and strong. He was said to have a long, straight nose, a thin face, and green eyes with bushy, menacing eyebrows. He wore a mustache and had swollen temples that increased the bulk of his head. He also reportedly had a thick neck. His appearance, like his behavior, has also been described as cruel."
"He is estimated to have killed somewhere between 40,000 and 100,000 people." -
Repetitive. And way too rushed. If you know nothing about the history of this era, you're screwed. Too many names thrown out at you with no background. Too many geographical locations with no mention of where each is. Too many Vlads and you should stick to one name for each, not use a different name for each Vlad each time. Luckily, I'm pretty well versed in this era or I would've been completely lost.
Guess I won't be reading any other Hourly History shorts. Sad, because that's a great concept. -
Oftentimes reality is better than fiction... HH's summary of Vlad III Dracula, the Impaler Lord is one such case
Wether a fan of Bram Stoker's novel, the Japanese manga Helsing, the video game franchise Castlevania or just vampire lore in general we are in one way or another with the historical character of Vlad the Impaler. Hourly History captured the highlights of this historical figure and produced an intriguing and easy to read summary that allows the reader to have a good idea of who Vlad Tepes was. An excellent read for anyone interested on the lore of Dracula. -
3 stars
The first two chapters were meh... Kind of boring, however by chapter three, I was all in. Solid book, I did not know of all of the atrocities committed by Vlad the Impaler, nor did I know that Dracula may have been based in an actual person. I did not like that so much information was missing/ unknown. I also did not like how the first two chapters seemed so crammed with information that it did not seem to flow. I am looking forward to reading the other short stories and see how they compare -
Not fully satiated but well you can never truly learn every detail about the seeming monsters. A fast read with chronological build up of Vlad's brooding personality.
I feel there are missing details of his first wife's death in keeping his honor and how vengeful he became afterwards, for that I shall dig more. I am really trying to find that soft spot this beast of a man could be considered a human over.
*Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler are two separate entities. Count is fictional inspiration drawn from the actual Impaler* -
This was rough. I read a couple of reviews that complained of the dryness but that honestly didn't bother me and I really don't find it dry. My problem is that it isn't really a well written paper - there is a lot of repetition to fill out the 41 pages to get to an "hour" length read; there isn't a single source listed ANY WHERE; and the construction of the arguments and the overall progression of writing is messy. The info was interesting but overall, just a meh read and definitely could have been better.
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Good Book With A Broad Overview
This book is very well written and provides a decent overview of the history of Vlad as well as its implications in modern culture. The only issue I had was there seemed to be a few holes here and there were it almost seemed like events between dates were lost or muddled but I believe that is more due to the sources being difficult to find or read and not on the author's part. Good stepping stone to learning about the man. -
This is a really well laid out non-fiction book detailing the life of Vlad Dracula. It discusses his rise to power, family lineage, victories and defeats in war and the mythology surrounding both his reported methods of killing as well as how much he influenced Bram Stoker's book.
It was an easy to read book, annotations backing up statements which lent further credibility to Vlad's history. Would recommend! -
Dracula!
I don't know why Vlad Impaler Lord fascinates me so much. It frightens me a little bit to think of how he killed individuals regardless of how violent it was back in the mid to late 1400s. Even though this figure of history gives me the creeps, it is definitely tough not to pick up and read a novel about him. This is not the first book I've read about Vlad the Impaler and I can more then guarantee it won't be my last. -
Quick and informative.
For the readers looking at a quick read on your travels, then this book is ideal.
I have always been fascinated with dracula, and this is a good way of starting if you want to learn a little bit about the famous man that seemingly started the vampire trend.
This is a quick and comprehensive book underlining vlad the thirds birth to death is short and informative segments, giving you key times, locations and actions that defined the man's fame.
