Since Baring-Gould was writing in the 1860's, his scholarship is somewhat dated. The result is a readable, anthropological take on the mythos that sometimes covers surprising ground.The book isn't without fault, though. He's also devoted a great deal of time to historical and judicial records that describe individuals who may or may not have believed themselves to be werewolves or who exhibited werewolf-like behavior. He presents a wide variety of werewolf myths, then puts them in context with some discussion of their cultural and psychological antecedents. Baring-Gould adopts a pleasing style, and he's structured his arguments well. This text would have been an excellent reference for Clemence Housman when writing The Were-Wolf.A detailed examination of the werewolf myth, first published in 1865.This was quite an enjoyable book. Baring-Gould attempts to associate lycanthropy with cannibalism, spiritual possession, and madness to reveal “that under the veil of mythology lies a solid reality, that a floating superstition holds in solution a positive truth” (Baring-Gould 6). Baring-Gould’s uniquely diverse talents are represented in The Book of Were-Wolves, as various chapters pull from oral traditional tales, folk songs, historical accounts, and medical documentation that link lycanthropy to the real world.
Born in 1834 in Devon, England, Baring-Gould was a theologian, hagiographer, novelist, linguist, and collector of folk songs, as well as a composer of hymns, his most famous being “Onward Christian Soldiers.” He was ordained as an Anglican Priest in 1865. The text investigates the various mentions of werewolves from “ancient writers of classic antiquity,” “Northern Sagas,” and “mediæval authors,” to create a “sketch of modern folklore relating to Lycanthropy” (Baring-Gould 6). The Book of Were-Wolvesby the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould is a collection of werewolf folklore and mythology originally published in 1865 by Smith, Elder & Co.
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