Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts

Powell's Midyear Roundup

The Best Books of 2022 (So Far)

With the help of the creators (!), cast (!!), crew (!!!), and fans (!!!!), Evan Ross Katz meticulously unpacks the seven-season run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the controversies that have surrounded the show since its debut. The result is an enchanting oral history/fan memoir/media study that is a celebration of all that Buffy has given us (so much). Recommended By Chris T., Powells.com

The oral history and exploration of the cultural impact of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the ground-breaking television show adored by fans old and new.

Over the course of its seven-year run, Buffy the Vampire Slayer cultivated a loyal fandom and featured a strong, complex female lead, at a time when such a character was a rarity. Evan Ross Katz explores the show's cultural relevance through a book that is part oral history, part celebration, and part memoir of a personal fandom that has universal resonance still, decades later.

Katz — with the help of the show's cast, creators, and crew — reveals that although Buffy contributed to important conversations about gender, sexuality, and feminism, it was not free of internal strife, controversy, and shortcomings. Men — both on screen and off — would taint the show's reputation as a feminist masterpiece, and changing networks, amongst other factors, would drastically change the show's tone.

Katz addresses these issues and more, including interviews with stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, Seth Green, Marc Blucas, Nicholas Brendon, Danny Strong, Tom Lenk, Bianca Lawson, Julie Benz, Clare Kramer, K. Todd Freeman, Sharon Ferguson; and writers Douglas Petrie, Jane Espenson, and Drew Z. Greenberg; as well as conversations with Buffy fanatics and friends of the cast including Stacey Abrams, Cynthia Erivo, Lee Pace, Claire Saffitz, Tavi Gevinson, and Selma Blair.

Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born engages with the very notion of fandom, and the ways a show like Buffy can influence not only how we see the world but how we exist within it.

"[A] tantalizing and thoroughly engaging tome.... A loving look at an influential show....[fans] will adore this accessible and juicy read." Booklist (Starred Review)

"[An] entertaining debut....Mixing keen cultural analysis, wit, and an obsessive's zeal, this will have fans riveted." Publishers Weekly

"Evan Ross Katz has jumped into the world of Buffy in a way no one ever has before. I'm in awe of the way Evan loves Buffy, cares about Buffy, and writes about Buffy. Each chapter reignited my love for the show in a new kind of way. This book is a deep dive and a love letter and a brilliant reminder that a good piece of art can live on far past a series finale." Kiernan Shipka

"As someone who didn't watch Buffy until meeting Evan, his fandom, understanding, and total embrace of the nuance and complexities of the show ravages this book, and turns a chambré viewer into a fangirl. His writing is fresh, and so are his perspectives — through reading, you contemplate the series through his eyes and discover new vantage points through anecdotes from those orbiting the Buffy universe. Not only is the show iconic, so is this author." Christopher John Rogers

"Evan has produced the definitive feast for Buffy Buffs!" Andy Cohen

Watch the Powell’s virtual event with Evan Ross Katz and Lauren Garroni!

Evan Ross Katz is a writer, podcast host, and high-pitched loudmouth whose work has appeared in the pages of GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Interview Magazine, Rolling Stone, Oprah Magazine, Teen Vogue, Town & Country and more. He is a fashion columnist at Paper Magazine, a contributor at The Cut, and host of the podcasts Shut Up Evan and Drop Your Buffs. He is best known as the world's preeminent Sarah Michelle Gellar historian and a "die-hard Buffy aficionado," according to Vogue, and for being blocked on Twitter by Kim Cattrall in 2017 (she has since unblocked). He was selected as one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business 2021.