Complete Idiot's Guide to Werewolves

An odd sound echoes from somewhere in the dark - probably just some dog, howling at the moon - a sensible reaction that somehow offers little comfort. Suddenly, something is growling just beyond sight, somewhere in the trees. A heartbeat later, that something is right there, breathing heavily, a savage beast that could easily tear a person apart. The fear is excruciating - anyone unlucky enough to be nearby could soon be dead - or worse, cursed for eternity....

Welcome to the nightmare that is the werewolf, a frightening regression to an animal state, an often involuntary surrender to the savagery that lies within all human beings, just below the surface. According to some stories, a werewolf has the ability to turn from a human into a full-blown wolf, changing in both size and shape. In other stories, which have gained the most popularity in recent times, a werewolf turns from a human into a large, wolflike creature, a sort of human-wolf hybrid.

In The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Werewolves, the world of the werewolf comes chillingly to life, covering everything there is to know about the creatures that have frightened - and enticed - readers and moviegoers for decades. The book includes:

• European werewolves, North American shape-shifters, and wolf-people all over the world.
• Cursed, enchanted, and viral - how humans become werewolves.
• Werewolves in American culture: in film, from Lon Chaney's The Wolf Man to The Howling to The American Werewolf series to 2009's New Moon; and in art, urban legend, role-playing and video games, and more.
• Once bitten ... then what? The transformation itself.
• Possible explanations for the werewolf phenomena.

Nathan Robert Brown is a doctoral student of mythological studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. His academic and professional works have led him to do extensive research in the areas of world mythology, folklore, urban legends, ancient civilizations, and world religions. Nathan is an expert on the identification and examination of trinities, common structures, and universal themes in myth, religion, and mysticism. His research seeks to connect world myths and religion through these commonalities. Nathan is the author of such books as The Complete Idiot's Guide® to World Mythology, Fallen Angels of Vengeance, and World Religions at Your Fingertips.