New book review from our current issue: Hollywood’s Ancient Worlds

Jeffrey Richards
Continuum

‘The very last thing Gladiator was about was actual Roman history’, writes Jeffrey Richards in his book about Hollywood’s renewed interest in the ancient world. Ridley Scott’s film is principally entertainment, not education.

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From Demons to Dracula: Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth

Matthew Beresford
Reaktion Books

A study of the vampire myth in literature, history and art, from its beginnings in the demons of the ancient world to Hollywood blockbusters, which seeks to explain our fascination with this creature.

Survivors’ Songs from Maldon to the Somme, Jon Stallworthy (Cambridge University Press)

A study of poetic encounters with war including essays on Brooke, Sassoon and Owen, which places the poetry and prose of the First World War and its aftermath in the wider context of writing about warfare.