Book overview
A study of the history, folklore, and cultural interpretation of werewolves in European tradition. In The Book of Were-Wolves, Sabine Baring-Gould examines accounts of lycanthropy across regions and periods, assembling narratives, reports, and interpretations into a structured survey of the subject.
The work develops through a sequence of case studies and historical references, considering both the persistence of the belief and the conditions under which it arose. Baring-Gould's method combines documentation with analysis, presenting material drawn from folklore, legal records, and anecdotal accounts. The text proceeds with clarity, allowing patterns of belief and interpretation to emerge across different contexts.
Positioned within nineteenth-century studies of folklore and superstition, the work remains one of the earliest extended treatments of werewolf traditions. It continues to be read for its documentation of myth, belief, and cultural imagination.
