Prince Vlad III, who ruled Wallachia in the XV century, went down in history with the nicknames Dracula — not only "Son of the dragon", but also "Son of the devil" - and Impaler, "Kolosazhatel". In modern popular culture, his name is strongly associated with the image of a vampire bloodsucker, while in Romania, he is celebrated as a national hero, a fighter for the country's independence. There are many legends about Dracula and little documentary evidence that allows us to recreate the biography of this extraordinary ruler, who lived at the break of epochs, at the turn of the confrontation between the strongest powers of his time — the Ottoman and Holy Roman empires, Hungary, Poland. Historian Vadim Ehrlichman in his book explores not only the life of the real Vlad Dracula, but also the development of the "black legend" about him from the lubochny books of the Renaissance to the latest Hollywood films. Inevitably, the legends of vampires are also touched upon, although Dracula was associated with them only in the XIX century. Accidentally or not is a difficult question, which is also considered by the author of the book.