Encyclopedia of Urban Legends

by Jan Harold Brunvand and Jan Harold Brunwand

Book Overview

We all know those stories that are too bizarre to be true roasted babies, vanishing hitchhikers, scuba divers in trees but have you heard about the ice man or the bullet baby? This comprehensive and compellingly readable reference work will answer all your urban legend questions, offering alphabetical entries on every aspect of the subject, including descriptions of hundreds of individual legends and their variations, legend themes, and scholarly...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393323587
• ISBN13: 9780393323580
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 2.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.1" x 10.0"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great book, Encyclopedia of Urban Legends

This is a heavy great book with a lot of Urban Legends and information on the origin of these Legends.

Important source material

A wonderful record of fascinating true stories, window-dressed as a collection of fictitious modern folklore. Great entertaining light reading, BUT, more importantly, is THE source for the skinny on what's really going on behind the mainstream headlines. I have shelved it in my personal library between The New York City Public Library Desk Reference Manual, and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. This is currently published only in an oversized softcover format. The author has done a wonderful job of assembling and retelling hundreds of important and entertaining stories . . . and pretending that they are fabrications, even providing "origins". Bravo!

Great referance work !

This is the ultimate book on Urban Legends and Jan Harold Brunvand is a mastermind on Urban Legends, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in folklore and Mythology. Awesome Book !!!

Very Insightful & Informative

I decided to pick up this book because I have always had a mild interest in urban legends. This book is well organized from A-Z. It contains several hundred urban legends within the pages. I was quite surprised about how several different urban legends blend together.The author dictates when the legend started and where it began. If you have any interest in urban legends then I would recommend this book. I was suprised at how many urban legends are documented and told.

A good reference

If you're interested in urban legends from a folklore standpoint, a research standpoint, or just a fan then you will appreciate this book. It is the most complete reference I have seen. Details of stories, their comparison with other stories, common stories from other parts of the world, and clear explanations. Brunvand has a knack for making it all understandable and avoids being dry and lecturing. For the stories themselves you would want to see his many other collections; for research and reference you can not do without this book.

A winning legand's book

If you are thinking for a urban legends book,this is the one you want. Has all the legands you can think of in it. From famuos ones to ones you have never heard of.