Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the most original and popular television programmes of the last decade. It develops inventive variations on stock horror material partly for thrills, partly as eloquent metaphors for the anxieties of contemporary American teenagers, but does a lot more - varying its tone from surrealism to moments of intense romanticism. Reding the Vampire Slayer is a book of critical appreciations, which examines a variety of the complex ways in which Buffy and its spin-off series Angel have won the hearts of its target audience and the minds of intellectual commentators. The book also provides a short episode guide to all five seasons of Buffy and the first two seasons of Angel, as well as assessment, based on interview material, of the contributions of the shows' principal writers.