Mythology Books

Excitement and anticipation at the advent of a new millennium is nothing new. In The Millennium Myth: The Ever-Ending Story, Sean M. O'Shea and Meryl A. Walker trace end-of-the-world and new-beginning rituals from their prehistoric origins to current times.

O'Shea and Walker point out that "in the many cycles that our ancestors witnessed and experienced {day and night, the crop cycle, the four seasons, or life and death}, they were far too astute to miss the corresponding application to their entire world: someday it too will end." They define millennium as referring "to the end of the current age" with the implication that the transition from one age to the next "is marked by events of the most horrible nature: an apocalypse."

The authors' analyses of each major religion shows how cultural beliefs about the end of the world and new beginnings are woven into the tapestry of worship. They also show how millennial beliefs made their way into fairy tales and folklore, and how those beliefs affected the daily lives of ordinary people.

The chapter on contemporary America discusses the rapid technological advances made in the past hundred years, the "psychic apocalypse" of mass genocide, the development of our ability to totally destroy the world with nuclear weapons, and the proliferation of deadly diseases like AIDS. In life today, "there is no safe haven," leading some people into cults or following messiahs like David Koresh or Jim Jones.

The final chapter deals with prophesy. As man is aware that the world must sometime end, "his ongoing concern [can be] confined to a single question: When?" Prophesy attempts to provide an answer to that question. Millennial prophesies include those of Nostradamus, and the Bible Code.

The Millennium Myth is a scholarly work, heavily annotated. Each chapter has its own bibliography. It will appeal to readers wanting a broad perspective on millennial beliefs through the ages.

The "Millennium Myth"offers an outstandingly thorough and interesting exploration of this impending historical phenomenon that holds fascination and wonderment for us all . It is an eye-opening presentation of both the origins and potential of this occurrence, from virtually every perspective -cultural, political, religious, psychological and social.

Thoroughly researched and documented, it is at the same time compellingly narrated, intelligently organized, and beautifully phrased. In short, a literary and scholarly triumph for these talented young authors.

We --as a humanity, a society, a culture-- are living in a time of great uncertainty. Although technology and science are providing us with giant steps, these distinctly human concepts are overshadowed by a universal unknown-- the great sceptor of time. The authors have done a fabulous job of interpreting our unknown fears of the new millenium and given us the history behind this fear. I recommend this exciting book, and in fact am considering using it for a history course here at Osaka University.

What a beautiful book! I have always loved the story of Momotaro (Peach Boy) and the wonderful paintings by Kano Naganobu add another dimension to the story. It is just exquisite!

"Momotarô-san, Momotarô-san
Please give me one of those
Millet dumplings you're carryiing.
I'd gladly give one to you
If you'll go along with me
To conquer the ogres!"

Momotarô is a popular hero from Japanese folklore and the above verse is from a Japanse folk song about his famous exploits. His name literarly means Peach Tarô (Momo meaning Peach and Tarô meaning the eldest son, ergo Momotarô is often translated as Peach Boy). This is because the popular story of Momotarô, which dates from the Edo period, tells of this extraoridnary boy coming down to earth inside a large, golden peach. He is raised by his adoptive parents and grows to be stronger and wiser than his elders. Then when he is fifteen he sets off to battle the evil ogres that have been terrorizing and robbing the people of the region for such a long time.

"Momotarô and the Island of Ogres" is told by Stephanie Wada and follows the young hero's arrival and his upbringing by the old couple. To bring good to his parents and to other people, Momotarô decides to defeat the terrible ogres of Onigashima and begins his journey carrying some of the kibi-dango (millet dumplings) that are his favorite food. Along the way he picks up a large spotted dog, a monkey, and a pheasant who join him in his quest. The rest of the story is devoted to their journey to Onigahsima and the great battle in which they defeat the blue, red and gren ogres and return home in triumph.

As interesting as the story is the big treat here are the exquisite handscroll paintings by the Japanese artist Kano Naganobu (1775-1828) that illustrate the tale. Naganobu painted in ink, colors, and gold on silk. The book's postscript explains how the original image do not exist as separate paintings or scenes, but as a pair of handscrolls. The first tells Momotarô's story till our hero and his animal friends approach Onigashima, the second illustrates the battle between Momotarô's allies and the ogres through the return home. The postcript also highlights that Naganobu's illustrations are filled with various symbols of long life and good luck (e.g., water, the peach, crane, etc.). So be prepared to go back and look at the wonderful illustrations when you have read up on what all there is to find there so you can better appreciate them the second (or third or fourth) time around.

This is a classic Japanese legend, which is told with illustrations from an old scroll. The illustrations are wonderful, and the story is a lot of fun.

From the DJ: A terrible monster is plaguing the Anasazi villages of the Southwest's canyon country, so much so that the villagers are afraid to plant their crops. Who will same them from this monster's wrath? The Twins, twelve-year-old sons of Changing Woman, respond to the villagers' cries for help and decide to seek out and destroy this monster, the Walking Giant. Armed with lightning arrows - gifts from their father - and magic feathers, they set out to defeat their enemy, and become heroes of the people in so doing. Immortalized for centuries through the oral storytelling tradition, the Twins now come alive on the pages of this colorful book, a partial recreation of the traditional Navajo story, retold and illustrated by two talented Navajo people.

I liked this book because it was very nice and somehow funny. Mostly I liked the characters in the sroty and what they did to save their village. It is a great book for all ages to read and I enjoyed reading it. I hope everyone that read this book will enjoy it as much as I did.

This was one of the first pieces that Bahe and Vee worked on together. Bravo! I am in awe of Bahe's illustrations and captured by Vee's words. Being a Native American, I can see and read the vision of the two's colaborative work and how they both echo each others impressions of this traditional Navajo story. It should be a part of our childrens plate of literature to consume prior to going to the Euro-Classics.

The moon is tempted to earth to see what the bogels are up to. She gets captured trying to save a boy from their clutches, and the moon disappears. The boy must figure out how to save her. The artwork is wonderfully creepy, and the clutching, grasping, creaking, slurping descriptions bring to life the will o' the wisps and the bog-filled countryside. Not overly firghtening but thrilling enough (especially the bogels) to introduce an old, spooky, English folktale to youngsters.

The book was so well illustrated and colorful. Story was real scary. What a unique book.
Sally Molock

My husband, daughters (4 & 5) and I all loved the book. Beautiful art work. A little more sophisticated story line.

Ellen Tifft deftly paints a story of the past, of a time when carnival sideshows traveled the country, when carved wooden horses seemed to come to life on carousels, and when simple things like truth and honor and love were still important. Tifft masterfully weaves together two stories of love: one is the tale of a young sideshow dancer named Zelma who somehow manages to find the keeper of her heart even though fate seems to have other plans, and the second is the Indian myth of two doomed lovers forever associated with the bottomless Aldridge Lake. But the true beauty of the novel is the fact that Tifft has the commendable ability to take the reader to a deeper level of involvement with the characters, beyond that of mere observers of the central love stories. She allows the reader a unique and uninhibited look into the very essence of her soul, and the experience proves to be both exhilirating and cleansing. The further one delves into the lives of the characters of Tifft's novel, the more real they seem and, despite the difficulties they endure, the more at peace the reader feels. Mrs. Tifft's poetic powers are obvious, and the imagery she employs lends an almost magical element to her prose, sweeping the reader up in a tale of love and sacrifice and courage. Zelma is no cardboard character, she is full of innocence and desire and verve. She is a dreamer whose naive actions lead to consequences which appear to wipe out any chance of her realizing her dreams, which would smother the passion and exuberance of most, yet she somehow manages to persevere. Zelma is a wonderful example of the modern literary hero, as she encounters various faces of evil and despair without losing her sense of intergrity and hope. Mrs. Tifft offers the reader a remarkable ride on a carousel of the imagination which is sure to haunt and to please.

Ellen Tifft, lifelong resident of Elmira, New York, has published poetry and short fiction in a variety of literary magazines, including The New Yorker and Poetry, for the past forty some years. Moon, Moon, Tell Me True is her first published novel, but it reads like something she's been preparing for all her life. Set in Annovia, a fictionalized Elmira, from 1947 to 1956, the novel's heroine is 19 yr old Zelma Prokova, daughter of Gene Tunney Prokov and his wife Peg. Gene and Peg are the stick man and fat woman of a traveling sideshow that spends five months on the road and six months in Annovia. Zelma has been performing since she was five and is a regular dancer in the "girly show," but she dreams of performing for much larger audiences than the side show world brings in. All of this sounds realistic, but Tifft is a home grown magic realist. Her characters, from Mister and Al, the side show's Indian fortune teller and hermaphrodite, to Raymond-Guy, the itinerant, foreign-born sidewalk chalk painting artist, who sweeps Zelma off her feet, inhabit a world in which the villainous Dwain Slocum, sideshow manager, attempts the rape and even murder of our heroine Zelma. Zelma dances herself into mystical trances, falls in love, gives birth on a river barge, and is almost lured into death by drowning in the lake at Aldridge Park. And all of this Tifft achieves through a language, half dialect, half poetry that captures the offhand way people talk better than anything I've ever read. But you really have to read this unique novel for yourself. It will take you on a journey through mythic realms to a resolution as satisfying as the end of The Tempest or The Magic Flute.

Ellen Tifft deftly paints a story of the past, of a time when carnival sideshows traveled the country, when carved wooden horses seemed to come to life on carousels, and when simple things like truth and honor and love were still important. Tifft masterfully weaves together two stories of love: one is the tale of a young sideshow dancer named Zelma who somehow manages to find the keeper of her heart even though fate seems to have other plans, and the second is the Indian myth of two doomed lovers forever associated with the bottomless Aldridge Lake. But the true beauty of the novel is the fact that Tifft has the commendable ability to take the reader to a deeper level of involvement with the characters, beyond that of mere observers of the central love stories. She allows the reader a unique and uninhibited look into the very essence of her soul, and the experience proves to be both exhilirating and cleansing. The further one delves into the lives of the characters of Tifft's novel, the more real they seem and, despite the difficulties they endure, the more at peace the reader feels. Mrs. Tifft's poetic powers are obvious, and the imagery she employs lends an almost magical element to her prose, sweeping the reader up in a tale of love and sacrifice and courage. Zelma is no cardboard character, she is full of innocence and desire and verve. She is a dreamer whose naive actions lead to consequences which appear to wipe out any chance of her realizing her dreams, which would smother the passion and exuberance of most, yet she somehow manages to persevere. Zelma is a wonderful example of the modern literary hero, as she encounters various faces of evil and despair without losing her sense of intergrity and hope. Mrs. Tifft offers the reader a remarkable ride on a carousel of the imagination which is sure to haunt and to please.

Worth ordering. I bought and read this book soon after its publication, and after recently purchasing "Weird California" it still remains the best of this states "strange" storytelling. Mr. Marinacci even collaborated with other authors on the latter, but this is still the one to read for California. I'd never heard of CHARMAN, THE BILLIWACK MONSTER, OR THE LIZARD PEOPLE, till this book came out, and I've lived here my entire life. The section on Mt. Shasta alone would make a great movie. Not that "WEIRD CALIFORNIA" isn't amusing, it just doesn't offer much new stuff. While "MYSTERIOUS CALIFORNIA" was like an epiphany of information. A classic that should definitely be in re-publication.

Ever since I first checked this book out of the local library, it has fascinated me. But why? Why do these cheesy stories of silly ghosts and monsters make my skin crawl? Why can I not read this after dark? I'm not certain, but stories of Charman, the lizard people, and the Billiwack Monster got under my skin years ago, and I just had to own this one.
Serious investigators of the paranormal can leave this one on the shelf, but anyone who happens to read a few of the stories will have no choice but to purchase one for themselves. I did.
This is the book that inspired my first Legend Trip (to the mysterious Walls of Oakland) back when I was a teenager (so long ago) and I haven't stopped since.
This is loads of great, silly fun!

This book is a fascinating read for anyone who has any interest in strange places and eerie phenomena. It is replete with information concerning the strange goings on which have transpired in the Golden State. Topics include the ghost who haunts Nob Hill, The Forest of Disappearing Children, and the Bigfoot who has been seen in Humboldt County. The author also includes a bibliography which enables one to do even more research and find articles in both academic and popular press journals which corroborate Marinacci's findings and claims. This is a very interesting and well-written work.

This is a great little volume. Two thumbs up from Rose & Rand Flem-Ath.

This is a must have for all you history and atlantean fans out there.It features a complete guide to the famous archeological place on earth that evryones talking about,plus its confesion is similar tothe animated movie . All I can say is into the bookstore and grab it!!!!!!

This is a really delightful and thought provoking book that goes along nicely with the Disney movie. It builds on the lure of Atlantis and offers theories based on historical, geographical and archeological myth, legend and facts that support its existence and location. Beautifully published. It�s the kind of book I would like if I were still a kid. I enjoy these types of books.

I aboslutly loved this book!!! I took the Mythology course last year (junior year) in high school and this was our "textbook" for the class. It told the myths wonderfully and it have ones you know and ones you don't. Also it give you background information on the ancient Greeks and it helps you understand their culture more and how they lived.

I highly recommend it!

I am currently reading this book in my Freshman English class, and I have to say that it is very good. It is considered a college text but the vocabulary is simple enough that 9th graders can read it without much difficulty. The book contains myths from just about every culture and concentrates on the change from a matriarchal society to that of a patriarchal society. Each myth starts with an introduction to the story, giving the reader background information about the characters in the myth, then it goes on to the story. The writing clear, precise and not as dry as most books of the type. The book also follows up some of the myths with reflection questions and also a paragraph or two on how the myth relates to our society today.

As a pre-service teacher, I am always looking for good ideas for lesson plans. This book is wonderful. It provides the historical context of the myth, presents pre- and post-reading questions, and offers links to today's world. The myths are brilliantly retold in modern language that is easy to understand. The book is thought-provoking, and it challenges the idea that mythology is a thing of the past. Mythology and You is very well composed, and offers a unique perspective on an old tradition.

Born: 26 March 1904, Died: 31 October 1987, he was raised Catholic but had a fascination with Native American myths at a young age. He is well know for several books and "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and different lecture series.

The Myths and the Masks of God include:

Interpreting Symbolic Forms
Using the Garden of Eden and the symbols including the two trees and a few beings, they are compared to earlier versions from societies 7000 BCE through 1900 CE. Concluding with "feel free to read any form you like into these symbols and realize it will be a symptom of you."

Mythic Vision

Experiencing the Devine

History of the Gods

The Religious Impulse

This series of lectures was given in the seventies and it is interesting to see how it holds up today. He brings a different vision for most of us when he compares a religion where we identify with God vs. having a relationship to God. Of course those that have followed Joseph Campbell Already have the concepts but find it useful to hear his thoughts and compare them to what we already know.

The nice thing about the lectures is that every time we hear them we get a different slant on what we originally heard or glossed over. Learn more www.jcf.org

The subject of the question of if Joseph Campbell's attitude towards the christian tradition suffers from a certain sort of prejudice is a somewhat complicated subject in Campbell's body of work. As another reviewer has noted, Campbell's criticism of christianity is of its emphasis of facts... as a pose to the poetry... But I think Campbell himself would acknowledge ..or its a part of Jung's work.. who Campbell follows... that an emphasis of subject over object, or object over subject.. has more to do with psychology typology then truth.. That is God is about transcending the idea of God... Which is to say.. you can sort of argue that Campbell is right in his criticism and Christianity is right for talking about its valuing of a factual grounding as being one of the virtues of the Christian tradition... What I'm saying is that this is a complicated subject.. and in some way I think we have to try and understand Campbell's position in a historical perspective and what it meant in relationship to that historical perspective.. And anyway.. one can come to one's own positions on these sorts of things

Further.. this stuff is a little complicated for anyone who hasn't spent some time with Campbell... but on the other hand.. one of the virtues of a book on tape is you can always listen to it more then once.. So I don't think the issue of the complexity of the material should be taken as a strike against it.. if anything.. I'd argue that it adds to the value.. because it gives you a reason to listen to it again and again.. to contemplate it.. etc..

The last thing to be said is that Campbell is at his best as a lecturer.. Sure, his books are great.. but there's a whole other dimension to the man that is really only to be captured in his lectures.. on tape.. and In my view.. this is the best way to take in Campbell..

In the editorial review printed below from some audio magazine, the reviewer accuses Campbell of having anti-Christian biases. If anything, Campbell cuts Christians too much slack in this series of lectures. Here Campbell explores the reasons for the decline of Christianity in our culture, and concludes that the problem lies in organized religions tradition of emphasizing the Christian mythology as historic fact. Campbell claims that this diminishes the effect of Christian symbolism, because when we discover scientific evidence that proves the mythology could not have been actual fact, we abandon the underlying truths the mythology was meant to illustrate. Campbell calls this a problem of reading poetry as prose, of reading metaphor as fact. This is the only thing in this series that could be remotely considered anti-Christian, and then only by a myopic pinhead. Anyone--Christian or otherwise--whose head wasn't firmly embedded in the nether regions of his or her anatomy would realize that this line of thought was liberating rather than negating.

Excellent compilation of myths and stories from around the world all with a tree theme. I had no idea there were so many. Its wonderful to read them all in one place and see the different themes explored. Following each myth or story is a commentary by the author where she discussed the symbolism, similarities to other stories. Source of the myths/stories is also provided. Wonderful black and white drawings are throughout the book as well. A few poems also open the book. Others are sprinkled through. Wonderful book.

"Myths of the Sacred Tree" is a gorgeous collection of stories and art--a wonderful collaboration between writer and illustrator. I appreciate Moyra Caldecott's efforts to create an inclusive collection of stories related to sacred trees that explores cultural visions from around the world. The combination of art and writing comes together to create a powerful portrait of the mysticism and spirituality contained within trees. After reading and viewing "Myths of the Sacred Tree" the way you experience trees will be forever changed.

When I finished it, I was like in the afterglow of deeply fulfilling climax- one of my favorite books I've read. A great book with a myth and author commentary-after-each format. The commentaries are at times a bit mental-simplistically theoretical, sometimes off, and unintuitive but personal, enjoyably searching, and mostly on the right track and "ripe enough to taste good". The myths are wonderful and the selection is tops! There aren't a huge number- it's just right. Some special African ones, a Japanese, some Nat American, Greek, British(Merlin), etc... Not run of the mill or ones I'd encountered before. I recommend having another different Earthy one to alternate with this as at least for my pace, etc., they needed to be experienced 1-3 at a time. Some are only a page and gladly the commentaries don't go too far on such but usually just give her personal view and interesting understandings (and humble misunderstandings-theories occasionally :).
The illustrator is the artist from the cover. If you find her prints anywhere, please let us know here. They are also masterful and give wonderful fresh looks and appreciation.
Ms Caldecott, a second one?!