A long time before the medieval werewolf trials, before the Christian theologians began to wrestle with the question of werewolves and before the priests started telling the 
simple country folk what to believe about werewolves, there was an age I would like to call "the golden age of werewolves".
During this time, the werewolf legends were much richer and varied. Not only were they more interesting because of this variety, they were also nicer because the werewolves didn't have such a stereotyped rut to be in. We saw tales about hero werewolves, werewolf saints, and bumbling, comedy-packed foolish werewolves. Nor were they all werewolves, the variety of species was much greater.
Like all folktales and superstitions, these older tales doubtless hold a lot of exaggerations and plain untruths, but it is not difficult to see that there was some kind of reality behind these tales which was deeply ground into the psyche of the country peasants. A reality of half-human half-animal beings which may be good, evil, or simply annoying, and which were not based on a model of cannibalism and violence.
Nor is werewolf folklore just a thing of Europe. There are many rich and varied traditions from elsewhere. In the North American Indian myths, the werewolf is quite a different brand of creature than the European werewolf. It is much nicer, for one thing (it doesn't generally view humans as snacks) and is viewed in a really cool, mystical way. A nice book to look at for these myths is "White Wolf Woman" by Teresa Pijoan.
The American werewolf is found elsewhere as well. Many of the early settlers brought their beliefs with them, and either retold old tales, created new ones, or mingled their European beliefs with local Indian beliefs. For some really cool stuff in this vein, try looking at The Loup_Garou Legends of Old Vincennes. A good book to look at for these types of stories is "Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers" by Richard Dorson.
I generally find the folklore to be much more enjoyable reading than werewolf novels, and I hope you will enjoy it too.
I've decided to place a few of my favorite legends here. Enjoy:
Legend #1:
"The Lay of Bisclavret". In this old French legend, a nobleman finally admitted to his wife that he was a werewolf. She wasted no time in getting her lover to steal his clothing, trapping him in wolf form until his clothing should be recovered. Meanwhile, the werewolf (as a wolf) became a tame pet of the king. At last, the truth came out and the werewolf got his clothes back, while his evil wife and her lover were banished.
Legend #2:
A man was hunting in the woods, and cut the paw off a wolf, though the wolf itself managed to escape otherwise unharmed. He kept the wolf paw and put it in his hunting bag as a trophy. When he got to his friend's house, he told the story and pulled the paw out to illustrate- except it was no longer a paw, but a woman's hand! The man's wife was found to be missing a hand.
Legend #3:
Some people were in the town square when they saw a strange sight: a wolf trotted right into town like a tame dog, and in the course of leaping at some meat tied up high, ended up falling into the well. When people assembled to remove the wolf from the well, they found that the only thing in the well was a naked woman.
Links:
A "True Tale" of the Loup-garou
Shapeshifters of North America
Shamans, Shape-shifters and the Animal People
List of Werewolf Folklore Books
Black Shuck Note: this is where many children go to do research for school papers.
Werewolf Legends from Germany Go here for a taste of the archaic.
Selchie Legends What is a selchie? It's a wereseal.
The Loup-Garou Legends of Old Vincennes Don't be fooled, in rural America, "loup-garou" can refer to any species, even an eagle
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