Mythology Books

Some American Indians stories and legends.
But I would rather have prefered more pictures of storytellers and notes on the artists.
Still a good introduction to pueblo pottery.
Huguette

If you are thinking of collecting the Storyteller Dolls, this is a good book to begin with. Or it makes a good accompaniment to a Storyteller Doll for a nice gift.

The wonder-provoking art of Native American Storytellers has been recreated in contemporary ceramics that are now a focus for avid collectors. For me, the most interesting aspect about storyteller dolls is that the making of these figurines was suggested by Alex Girard, famous designer & folk art collector. Girard encouraged potter Helen Cordero of Cochiti Pueblo to experiment with the figures in 1964 !! She made these, appropriately, to honor the memory of her storytelling grandfather Santiago Quintana.

It was as though Girard's imagination gave birth to a new industry for Native American potters. I wonder if this is reflected in the marvelous & huge collection at Santa Fe's
Museum of International Folk Art, one of the most exciting collections you will ever visit.

As author Mark Bahti notes about craftspeople at Cochiti Pueblo: "new ideas and techniques enrich old traditions." His book is a very good introduction to both the storytelling and the making of the figurines. The latter is well-explained to those new to the art; more books to read are listed, but a promised Guide to Pronunciation is NOT included in my edition. Also, the figurines may soon represent a lost art, as oral traditions are fading. To have many of the stories preserved "on tape" is a blessing. In books, like this one, the stories should be read aloud - - you will find that children love these wild tales, and have a flair for acting them out, especially the cannibalistic ones! I hope there will be a new edition that includes a much needed GLOSSARY, & DATES for ALL of the pieces shown.

I have loved this book for many years, and listen with admiration to storytellers in my own family . There are many ENCOURAGERS of the art, too, who should not be overlooked. FOR EXAMPLE, "TALL TALE TELLERS" gather in competition each June at the gorgeous Brown County Public Library in Nashville INDIANA to vie for prizes. Reviewer mcHAIKU urges you to search out similar opportunities, either among Native Americans or in your home state - - wherever there are good listeners, acive imaginations AND healthy dollops of dramatics.


p.s., Among my favorite ceramics shown in Bahti's book are: p.17, the stunning OWL of Jemez Pueblo (NM); p.48, the mod-looking Jemez boot, reminiscent of "the old woman in the shoe" and p.47,the Storyteller, also from Jemez, with many children who have even clambered up to her top knot; p.40, the Story BOWLS, representing the cisterns of Acoma Pueblo (NM) - I, too, need to collect water!; p.48, the Santa Clara (NM) figure which should be replicated in CHOCOLATE for every child's Easter basket! and finally, the crazily striking Hopi (AZ) "koshari."

Wonderful illustrations make this retelling of this Cherokee tale very special. The author and the artist certainly compliment each other's work.

I am a former fifth grade instructor, a National Board Certified Teacher, and a college professor in Teacher Preparation. I highly recommend the Grandmother Stories series to elementary and early childhood instructors and parents who are homeschooling their children. The books have appropriate vocabulary and tell stories that explain nature in a creative manner. I learned several things I did not know about nature and its interactions from these books. Children love to have the books read to them and to read them to themselves. Duvall and Jacobs are a wonderful creative force as they merge their talents to produce books that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

One of the traditional Grandmother Stories, Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting is here freshly delivered, proving the eternal value of traditional lore. Ji-Stu the Rabbit gets involved in adventures in the Smoky Mountains with Otter, his friend, as they attempt to catch a wood duck. The illustrations that accompany this tale are striking black-and-white line art, heavily framed with traditional design elements. The text and art combine to produce an elegant statement, contemporary but respectful of the past. - Kim Long

Ignatius Donnelly was born in 1831 Philadelphia and became a lawyer in 1852. Married in 1855, they moved to Minnesota. When Minnesota became a state in 1857 Donnelly was elected lieutenant governor. In 1862 he was elected to Congress for three terms. He campaigned for Greenback policies and served in the state senate. Donnelly wrote "Atlantis" and "Ragnarok" which became sensational best sellers and made him wealthy. "The Great Cryptogram" analyzed Shakespeare's plays to prove they were written by Francis Bacon. Two novels dealt with a fascist takeover of America "Caesar's Column", and racial intolerance "Dr. Huguet". In 1887 he became a founder of the Populist Party, and was nominated for Vice-President in 1898. He died in Minneapolis on 1/1/1901. His politics, oratory, and literature marked his originality and talents; his writings are now out of fashion.

Donnelly studied the legends and mythologies of Hindus, Persians, Britons, Chinese, Greeks, Scandinavians, the North, Central, and South American Indians, Arabians, Babylonians, and Egyptians that told of disaster by fire, hail, frost, darkness, changes in climates, and tales of dragons and other monsters. Donnelly claimed these reflected a visit from a giant comet, and the proof lay in The Drift of unstratified deposits which came from a cometic collision rather than glacial movement. Donnelly suggested a comet could have caused Old Testament events such as the destruction of the wicked cities, the sun standing still, and stones falling from the heavens. Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods (or Rain of Rocks), commanded the interest of general readers, and the admiration (if not credence) of the scientific world. Donnelly, a good lawyer, argued his case well with all the evidence available to him at the time. Decades later Immanuel Velikovsky would publish his version of this theory.

The surface of our planet consists of layers of sand, clay, and gravel (over stratified rock). It contains no trace of fossils. The pre-glacial world saw tropical plants growing near the Arctic Circle in Miocene times. Herds of elephants and other animals lived in Europe. Donnelly says a sudden cataclysm brought severe cold, and left deposits of sand, clay, and gravel; fissures were created in earth's crust. He explains why this was caused by a comet striking earth, the heat vaporizing the seas to create clouds, rain, and snow. Rocks on the surface would be smashed and crushed. This collision was preserved in the legends of mankind. The Great Lakes suggest points of impact. Vast clouds, and debris in the sky, would create a "nuclear winter".

Donnelly says myths and legends are ultimately based on some fact. Finding the same legends among different nations suggests a common experience in prehistoric times. These myths of a cataclysm imply the existence of mankind; they are in accord with the facts known to science and from deep excavations. The legends coincide in this: a monster in the air; the heat; the fire; the cave-life; the darkness; the return of light. Donnelly respectfully suggests the Book of Job is the oldest in the Bible, and gives a new viewpoint to the beginning of Genesis.

Donnelly answers objections in Part IV Chapter IV. The position of certain constellations in Job estimates this time as 30,000 years ago. Donnelly suggests the fire that seemed to drop out of the heavens and set a number of fires in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois on October 8, 1871 was the result of Bielas' comet. There is a universal feeling that regards comets with fear; Revelation (chapter xii, v.3) is a symbol of a comet brushing the earth. Why would God permit such a calamity? Perhaps what was destroyed was not worth preserving? It could be God's plan to punish the wicked of this world, says Donnelly.

Ignatius Donnelly was born in 1831 Philadelphia and became a lawyer in 1852. Married in 1855, they moved to Minnesota. When Minnesota became a state in 1857 Donnelly was elected lieutenant governor. In 1862 he was elected to Congress for three terms. He campaigned for Greenback policies and served in the state senate. Donnelly wrote "Atlantis" and "Ragnarok" which became sensational best sellers and made him wealthy. "The Great Cryptogram" analyzed Shakespeare's plays to prove they were written by Francis Bacon. Two novels dealt with a fascist takeover of America "Caesar's Column", and racial intolerance "Dr. Huguet". In 1887 he became a founder of the Populist Party, and was nominated for Vice-President in 1898. He died in Minneapolis on 1/1/1901. His politics, oratory, and literature marked his originality and talents; his writings are now out of fashion.

Donnelly studied the legends and mythologies of Hindus, Persians, Britons, Chinese, Greeks, Scandinavians, the North, Central, and South American Indians, Arabians, Babylonians, and Egyptians that told of disaster by fire, hail, frost, darkness, changes in climates, and tales of dragons and other monsters. Donnelly claimed these reflected a visit from a giant comet, and the proof lay in The Drift of unstratified deposits which came from a cometic collision rather than glacial movement. Donnelly suggested a comet could have caused Old Testament events such as the destruction of the wicked cities, the sun standing still, and stones falling from the heavens. Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods (or Rain of Rocks), commanded the interest of general readers, and the admiration (if not credence) of the scientific world. Donnelly, a good lawyer, argued his case well with all the evidence available to him at the time. Decades later Immanuel Velikovsky would publish his version of this theory.

The surface of our planet consists of layers of sand, clay, and gravel (over stratified rock). It contains no trace of fossils. The pre-glacial world saw tropical plants growing near the Arctic Circle in Miocene times. Herds of elephants and other animals lived in Europe. Donnelly says a sudden cataclysm brought severe cold, and left deposits of sand, clay, and gravel; fissures were created in earth's crust. He explains why this was caused by a comet striking earth, the heat vaporizing the seas to create clouds, rain, and snow. Rocks on the surface would be smashed and crushed. This collision was preserved in the legends of mankind. The Great Lakes suggest points of impact. Vast clouds, and debris in the sky, would create a "nuclear winter".

Donnelly says myths and legends are ultimately based on some fact. Finding the same legends among different nations suggests a common experience in prehistoric times. These myths of a cataclysm imply the existence of mankind; they are in accord with the facts known to science and from deep excavations. The legends coincide in this: a monster in the air; the heat; the fire; the cave-life; the darkness; the return of light. Donnelly respectfully suggests the Book of Job is the oldest in the Bible, and gives a new viewpoint to the beginning of Genesis.

Donnelly answers objections in Part IV Chapter IV. The position of certain constellations in Job estimates this time as 30,000 years ago. Donnelly suggests the fire that seemed to drop out of the heavens and set a number of fires in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois on October 8, 1871 was the result of Bielas' comet. There is a universal feeling that regards comets with fear; Revelation (chapter xii, v.3) is a symbol of a comet brushing the earth. Why would God permit such a calamity? Perhaps what was destroyed was not worth preserving? It could be God's plan to punish the wicked of this world, says Donnelly.

Ignatius Donnelly was a 19th century populist and freethinker whose books on Atlantis were groundbreakers--in fact the first serious look at the possibility of an antideluvian continent of high culture that existed in the mid-Atlantic.

Despite some flaws not fully proven Donnelly does manage to bring up a number of questions of the revisionist variety that later researchers have used in research in the ensuing 100 years.

Ragnarok also avoids a lot of the "channelling" and new age gobbledegook so familiar with fans of the genre. Highly recommended as an introduction.

I have never read this book, however I have known Ray Hicks for practically my whole life. I live in Boone, near where Ray spent his whole life. I first went to his house when I was 3 years old, but my mother did not take me to the top of that remote mountain to hear Ray's famous Jack tales. Ray Hicks was a faith healer, a seventh son of a seventh son with true powers. I had thirty three warts covering my hands. All Ray had to do was count my warts and perform some mysterious act on a designated tree he had in his backyard. After three weeks every single wart was gone, without the help of a single drop of medicine or even the slightest touch. Ray performed this incredible wart removal on myself, my brother, my mother, our neighbors, and anyone else that was in need of his powers. I am not a religious man and am not one to put faith in things I cannot explain, however Ray Hicks healed me and touched me in a very special way. Please read this book to discover how incredible this simple mountain man truly was.

"Ray Hicks", Robert Isbell's beautiful narrative about one of America's favorite Appalachian storytellers, brought me to tears, into uncontrollable guffaws, and sent chills up my spine - a literary high. Isbell recounts his conversations with various members of the Hicks' kinship, painting beautiful images of the proud yet humble life which abounds in the Southern Appalachians.
Most wonderful about this book is that Isbell does not go too far in attempting to present Hicks' vernacular speech in a jumbled, Elizabethan mess. He relies simply on Hicks' eloquent turns-of-phrase to present his fascination and amazement with the man's craft. The author's prose reads like fiction and ethnography simultaneously, resulting in a heartfelt portrayal of the American spirit.
Isbell, no dummy when it comes to mountain life himself, is able to create an honest portrait not only of one man, but an entire family and an entire region. He weaves magic, fantasy, reality, music, Jack tales, religion, and myth-as-truth to create one hell of a literary, folkloric and anthropological accomplishment.
When I finished the book, I closed it softly with a tearful smile. I then ordered a basket of daisies to be delivered to Ray and Rosa Hicks at their Old Mountain Rd. home.

Sadly, Ray Hicks has been diagnosed with advanced cancer since this book was written. A fund has been created for the cause (The Ray and Rosa Hicks Fund), the address of which can be found on various webpages.

12/24/2003
This exquisite book is a beautiful, fitting tribute to the remarkable national treasure, Ray Hicks, who took stories passed down orally for centuries and magically brought them to life for new generations. Previously published in hardback as "The Last Chivaree," this book is an authentic, moving portrayal of the charismatic Ray Hicks and his family. Working from hundreds of hours of taped interviews, Robert Isbell realistically and poetically evokes the lives of people whose great spirit and joyful participation in the suffering of the world allowed them not only to survive inconceivable poverty and hardship, but to triumph.

Ray Hicks died in April of this year (2003), and Robert Isbell, the author of this book and my father, died two weeks ago. Each had reached his 80th birthday. Both were luminaries to all who knew them.

J. A. Danelek's new book "Reconsidering Atlantis" was a fascinating read. Like most people I'd always considered Atlantis, if it ever existed at all, to be a specific place on the map; an island, a kingdom, perhaps even a whole continent. Danelek proposes a startling new theory that makes a great deal of sense -- frighteningly so, in fact.

In light of the evidence that mankind has been around for so very long, what has he been doing in the millenia prior to the current known "age of civilization?" Apparently he's been far more clever than modern scientists and anthropologists give him credit for. It now becomes evident that mankind has had the ability to destroy itself and its world far longer than we've ever imagined. Mother Nature was probably not the culprit in Atlantis' demise - it is far more likely that the technological genius of the Atlantean society became its own undoing. The mysterious continent has now been missing for approximately 12,000 years.

Since reading this milestone book on the subject, I cannot help but look around at my world and wonder what will be left (if anything) to convince future societies that we ever existed. Everything we use, everything we've built will have long since corroded back into dust 12,000 years from now. It is therefore entirely possible that a great and modern society existed before ours, before Christ, before the builders of the pyramids, before cavemen, and something quickly extinguished them. How do we keep from repeating the Atlantean fate?

The parallels that Danelek draws between this ancient society and our modern day lifestyle are shocking. Deviating from Plato's original concept of Atlantis, the author paints a picture of a technological age vastly similar to life in the 21st century. This book asks questions about why the Atlanteans fell to such a devastating end. Instead of predicting the same doom/Armageddon for our contemporary society, Danelek wants society to learn from our predecessors.
This book reads easily in its conversational tone and direct writing style. Danelek's witty sense of humor caught me off guard several times leaving me chuckling out loud. I was surprised by how many times I considered the author's ideas after being exposed to them.
Will we leave any trace of our existence to the cultures that may follow?

Jeff Danelek has opened a nice window - breathing fresh air and sanity into an otherwise insane topic. The book is well put together, with complete translations of Plato in the appendix. Danelek is a rational man considering the evidence of the human race; asking the questions, "why does civilization begin 6,000 years ago when people have been sentient long before that?" and "what would be left of a civilization after several thousand years?" And he does it without anything extraterrestrial or magical.

He also informs his readers about the conditions people faced during the last ice age. With interesting maps, Danelek discusses how this changed the surface of the Earth with so much water trapped in the enormous ice caps. Placing Atlantis on the old coasts, now underwater, has merit - since his book came out a city has been found out to sea where a river once flowed 9,000 years ago in what now is India. Several excavations are being launched off the coasts of Egypt and Greece, and they are coming up with wonderful finds. It doesn't sound so absurd to look even farther out.

Danelek has several interesting ideas. I can recommend his book - he is a good writer and he relates his concerns for our own civilization and what we might learn from our past.

It is very nearly the end of his book before Professor Richard Slotkin justifies the "violence" in his title Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600 - 1860. His final thesis is that the myth that the best Americans are violent is partial at best and has been misused by politicians to justify imperialist adventures from our own western plains to the 1898 war with Spain to Viet-Nam.

Most of the book is about the literary foundations behind the myth of the quintessential American being a hunter who enters a wilderness (the early American forests, the depths of his own dark mind) to endure an initiation of hunting, fishing, captivity, rescues and the "Eucharistic" union of hunter and a prey (the hunted) that is respected, killed and devoured.

Herman Melville's MOBY-DICK was not (like John Filson's Colonel Boone) initially popular. But in time it became "The American National Epic" (p. 538). Slotkin's ultimate conclusion is that there must be something to these intertwined myths of America but they are either inadequate to the real American character or false -- and certainly harmful as guides to behavior.

The search for American myths culminates before 1860 in the deep probings of Henry Thoreau and Herman Melville and the more fervid but less cerebral expressions by Walt Whitman. Thoreau took from Cooper and other myth-embellishers a notion of literary creativity as a bloody seizure of truth held by a foe or by prey.

The research into American myths begins with the Pilgrim/Puritan experiences of the 1620s to 1690s in hostile, wilderness New England, moves into literary comings to terms with those experiences in narratives and sermons and then into increasingly secular and decidedly fictional conceptions by writers like Parson Weems (on George Washington), John Filson (on Daniel Boone) and James Fenimore Cooper (on Natty Bumppo, the Leatherstocking).

A sickness entered popular American culture when Davy Crockett, hunter-wastrel, supreme waster of natural resources, became a mythic hero. Crockett, as America's Aeneas, was not a builder, but a destroyer, a conquistador (p. 555). When a mythic male hunter is hero and dark wilderness is his stage, then left behind are woman, family, civilization and towns. All a Boone, Crockett or Bumppo can do is hunt, kill, eat then resume hunting, killing and eating. This becomes the recommended American mythic cycle. And often, as with Captain Ahab and the white whale, the prey is simply unhuntable (p. 557) but is nonetheless pursued to the end of time.

As for the captivity/rescue/reassimilation into society dimension of America's myths, "...rescue from dark events is never complete" (564). Our foe was always the Indian or the pristine forest. And we only recognized and appreciated him when we slew him.

Lovers of James Fenimore Cooper will naturally linger over Slotkin's Chapter 13 "Man Without a Cross: The Leatherstocking Myth (1823 - 1841," pp. 466 - 516). Cooper skillfully blended materials from English and Scottish (Sir Walter Scott) romanticism with popular literature from New England and the new West (p. 468). Sir Walter in his introduction to ROB ROY had compared the famous Scot outlaw Rob Roy McGregor to red Indians for readers surprised that "a character like his, blending the wild virtues, the subtle policy, and unrestrained license of an American Indian, was flourishing in Scotland during the Augustan age of Queen Anne and George I." William Wordsworth's poem "Rob Roy's Grave" also catches a likeness to the future Leatherstocking. Cooper did much more than mechanically flesh or draw out the Boone myths and others, though he did make them his point of departure before probing their metaphors of the dark human heart.

Professor Slotkin credits Moravian missionary to the Delawares, Rev. J. G. Heckewelder, for the inspiration of the scene in THE PIONEERS where Natty, Chingachgook and Uncas pursue and kill a deer swimming in a lake. This captured a well known creation myth. Slotkin also gives Cooper much credit for hard literary pioneering which made possible even deeper insights of Hawthorne, Melville and Thoreau.

Professor Slotkin absolves the typical American from being the stoic killer detected by D. H. Lawrence. But Slotkin also blames at least some of America's myths for glorifying anti-environmental, destructive hunter-killers.

This long book is a pleasure to read, is a well-written historical review. Some of its final conclusions do not, however, seem firmly entailed by 99% of the well-chosen words that preceded them. -OOO-

1999 marked an "average year" for North American fixation on violence, sexual imagery, and an added combination of technological paranoia as a result of the new millennium. For the most part, television screens tuned in to the daily media circus showcasing the latest "experts" on youth violence, gang activity, and the Psychic Friends Network. The student shooting at Colorado's Columbine high school, however, gripped the nation and left the "experts" scrambling for explanations, counselors, and an array of gun-control measures.

Of all the propositions these so-called experts put forth, none discussed the historical culture of violence that has become the foundation of our country's consciousness. Instead of real explanations and solutions, we endured Senator Diane Feinstein and other "politicians" anxious to defend their domain at the public dole. Many failed to connect the bullets flying in American classrooms with the bombs dropping on civilians in Kosovo. Indeed, they missed the forest for the trees when instead of searching for the root cause of the problem (the culture of violence), they resorted to simplistic cosmetic trimming (more gun control). Richard Slotkin's monograph on the mythology of the American frontier examines the origins of this "frontier mentality" and the making of our national character.

In Regeneration through Violence, Richard Slotkin argues that the North American frontier mythology is a major force in shaping the national character of the country. By building on the theoretical constructs of Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis," Slotkin argues that the frontier was not so much a "regeneration" of democratic principles as much as it was one of violence. Unlike Turner's notion of the frontier as a European and Socialist cleanser, Slotkin offers a more palatable thesis by incorporating the influence and conflict with various Native American populations. The conclusions, nonetheless, are not that simple. American settlers were "not simply an idiosyncratic offshoot of English civilization" but became "Americanized" or "Indianized" in their contact with the indigenous peoples of the continent. By tracing the origins of violence and freedom Slotkin concludes that various European and North American mythologies influenced the early settlers before, during, and after Native American contact.[1] Europeans who settled on the North American continent disembarked with an assortment of adopted ideas and mythologies from their native homeland(s). In this particular context, Slotkin's analysis on European cultural baggage is worth quoting at length:



"The Europeans who settled the New World possessed at the time of their arrival a mythology derived from the cultural history of their home countries and responsive to the psychological and social needs of their old culture. Their new circumstances forced new perspectives, new self-concepts, and new world concepts on the colonists and made them see their cultural heritage from angles of vision that non-colonists would find peculiar. The internal tension between the Moira and Themis elements in their European mythologies (and the psychological tensions that is the source of this myth-duality) found an objective correlative in the racial, religious, and cultural opposition of the American Indians and colonial Christians. This racial-cultural conflict pointed up and intensified the emotional difficulties attendant on the colonists' attempt to adjust to life in the wilderness. The picture was further complicated for them by the political and religious demands made on them by those who remained in Europe, as well as by the colonists' own need to affirm-for themselves and for the home folks-that they had not deserted European civilization for American savagery." [pg. 15]

Much like Reginald Horsman's monograph on the origins of American racial Anglo-Saxonism, Slotkin understands that European settlers did not approach the New World with a cultural clean slate; or as Professor Buzzanco would say: tabula rasa. Europeans carried with them centuries of cultural baggage and transported those ideas to the American continent, particularly the concept of Volkgeist.[Horsman, 25-42]
The new settlers underwent the logical process of a cultural tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis, or "times change and we change with them." Racial prejudice, however, was not the only cultural and social "element" present at the time of contact. Religious nuances and distorted comparisons between Catholicism and Native American blood rites provided an added cultural wedge between the two. Slotkin believes that many of the above mentioned traits found fertile ground in North American literature, specifically in the accounts of Indian wars and captivity narratives. According to Slotkin,

"The cultural anxieties and aspirations of the colonists found their most dramatic and symbolic portrayal in the accounts of the Indian wars. The Indian war was a uniquely American experience. Moreover, it pitted the English Puritan colonists against a culture that was antithetical to their own in most significant aspects. They could emphasize their Englishness by setting their civilization against Indian barbarism; they could suggest their own superiority to the home English by exalting their heroism in battle, the peculiar danger of their circumstances, and the holy zeal for English Christian expansion with which they preached to or shot at the savages. It was within this genre of colonial Puritan writing that the first American mythology took shape-a mythology in which the hero was the captive or victim of devilish American savages and in which his (or her) heroic quest was for religious conversion and salvation. As their experience in and love for America grew, however--and as non-Puritans entered the American book-printing trade-the early passion for remaining "non-American" (or non-Indian) became confused with the love the settlers bore the land and their desire to gain intimate knowledge of and emotional title to it. If the first American mythology portrayed the colonist as a captive or a destroyer of Indians, the subsequent acculturated versions of the myth showed him growing closer to the Indian and the wild land. New versions of the hero emerged, characters whose role was that of mediating between civilization and savagery, white and red. The yeoman farmer was one of these types, as were the explorer or surveyor and. later, the naturalist."[pg. 21]

The European contrast between civilization and nature found other outlets to vent differences between "civility" and "savagery." Myths such as the ones mentioned above facilitated the aggressive westward expansion of the nineteenth century, particularly during the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848). Additionally, questions regarding early captivity narratives and the fictitious nuances that they engender pose interesting comparisons between those of the early Spanish settlers in New Mexico.

Placed against Hietala's monograph on "manifest design," however, Slotkin's study on the mythology of the American frontier is complimented by additional factors absent from his own book: diplomacy, politics, partisanship, economics, divisions between free labor and slave labor, and logistics. In defense of Slotkin, however, the author is primarily interested in excavating the origins of North American frontier mythology whereas Hietala's interest focuses on the question of "Manifest Destiny" during the Jacksonian period.

The benefit of Slotkin, in my opinion, has more to do with his understanding of the North American mentality and how those psychological underpinnings influence decisions outside of our own cultural distinctions, i.e. political, economic, diplomatic, and otherwise. More importantly, and like I've mentioned before, the question over mythology is, in my estimation, one of the fundamental obstacles obscuring our peregrino (peregrinate) to an open-minded discussion regarding many of our current social, economic, and political issues. The question over how mythology becomes part of our national character requires a crucial understanding of not only the origins of North American mythology itself, but also the ability to propose an alternative, practical model to take its place. The latter, in my opinion, is much harder than the former.

Slotkin analyzes the popular texts of early American life--"capitivity narratives" of women abducted by Native Americans, dime novels, etc.--to show how early Americans came to rationalize the gap between their religious ideology and the reality of the wilderness they were meant to transform into the "city on the hill." His careful study of the documents seems almost academic at first, and is sometimes rough going, but when I let his argument sink in (as a student in Slotkin's undergraduate class which used this book as its text), it profoundly and permanently transformed the way I saw American culture and history. This book is revelatory for anyone interested in "American Studies," the creation of our national mythology, and in what makes America America.

If you truly want to understand American culture this book is essential. It's erudite, detailed, patient, yet lively, examination of the themes of early American life and literature are revelatory. I have no doubt it will become a "classic" of American scholarship.

This book has earned a permanent spot on my bookshelf. (And not just for the cover art--which is worth buying the book for alone.) In my opinion, Ms Durham does a spectacular job decoding the crazy symbolism of those darn convoluted King Arthur myths. But don't read it only if you are a fan of Arthurian legend. Heck, I'm not. Sure, I like a good round table story now and then myself, but after about three chapters of Morte d'Arthur, I was done. This book is nothing like that. You don't need to be an Arthurian legend afficionado to read this or have a degree in English literature. Think of the grail legend as just a symbolic vehicle for a larger truth--one that affects all of us both individually and collectively.
Note: You may or may not like the way Ms. Durham weaves in her own experiences. I found her anecdotes interesting and genuine.
I highly recommend the book to those who enjoy the study of symbolism, to spiritual seekers, to those who feel empty or who have lost heart, and to those who want to create a better life for themselves individually, and a better world collectively.

Human beings are all on a quest, consciously or unconsciously. History, mythology, literature, psychology, and numerous other books have been devoted to this relentless pursuit of fulfillment. Diana Durham has written an in-depth account of this search, interweaving careful research with personal and collective experience. The Return of King Arthur: Finishing the Quest for Wholeness, Inner Strength, and Self-Knowledge dares to challenge the former accounts with the word "finishing," which she attests allows detachment and release from that which is wounded from archetypal and collective memory and allows fulfillment in one's truest divine nature.

Beginning with the renowned story of King Arthur and other characters who manifest and seek the Holy Grail, Ms. Durham explains and interprets the legend in a fascinating manner, providing diagrams, pictures, and symbolic geometric figures to support her exposition. A large portion of the book is devoted to the characteristics of the Wounded Fisher King and the Grail King, the former wreaking death and the latter creating a union between heaven and earth. The analogy is succinctly but potently connected to the history of global and spiritual leaders who usually become one or the other type of King and generate men and women with like form and behavior. The effect of such focus glares through history, the environment, and the evolution of what a true "man" and "woman" are designed to become.

Convincing and inspiring, this book is sure to awaken any alert or not so reflective reader. While the negatively bleak facets are catalogued as well as described, this is anything but a hopeless text. For the author claims to know a different design for humanity and attests to the validity of this plan within her own life as well as those who live the visionary truth taught by a man known as Uranda for over half a century.

The combination of ageless myth and the yearning of men and women for a central identity, one that yields a purposeful and realistically whole life, lies within these pages.

Read the book and begin the completion of your quest!

Ms. Durham is a poet and brings that sort of special sensitivity to her consideration of the tales about King Arthur and the Grail Quest. In addition, she has obviously spent a lot of time considering the elements of a whole spiritual life from many different perspectives. She is also fascinated by stories that continue to attract and fascinate over the centuries. What are we looking for in these stories?

In The Return of King Arthur, she combines these perspectives into her reading of the two tales and what they mean for her . . . and what she feels they mean for all of us now.

It's difficult to make close contact with another person's mind. Without a lot of time spent together, one cannot hope to know another's thoughts. Through this book, my mind was opened to many other ways to see and consider the Arthurian stories. From this process, I felt that I came to know Ms. Durham better than I know many people with whom I have spent a lot of time. It was a refreshing experience for she has many interesting things to say about how to lead our lives as individuals and as a community.

The biggest surprise for me was to learn a lot about myself. Having been familiar with these tales from childhood, I had internalized my own sense of what the stories, symbols, metaphors and analogies meant. My own views are quite different from Ms. Durham's and I found myself comparing the two views. My purpose in doing so was much like the way that one might hold up two objects next to the light and compare them . . . as a way of comprehending each one better. I came away with many new insights into my own perspectives. That was a rewarding experience.

In addition, I came away informed about a number of other ways to consider tales like these which will undoubtedly influence my future reading and thinking.

Ms. Durham places her views and direct experiences deep in the background of her interpretations of the tales, yet I found her own testimony to be far more interesting than her interpretations. I would love to learn more about her experiences with the spiritual communities with which she has interacted and lived in over the years. I hope she will consider writing a memoir that focuses in this area.

I was also intrigued to see ways that stories filled with sinners could provide spiritual guidance. I'm sure that we can all find God in more places . . . if we only take the time to look. Thanks to Ms. Durham, my vision has been expanded.

Nice job!

These stories are beautifully written and crafted. For those of us who love celestial creation stories, it's gratifying to see so many fine tales brought together in one book. However, I question if this is really for children (it was catalogued as a juvenile book in my library) with sentences such as the following from the introduction: "In each tale, the status quo, represented respectively by grudging community, powerful magician, innocent girl, or oblivious community, is like the personality entrenched in its habits and defenses, blind to spacious possibility."

Ellen Jackson, author
THE WINTER SOLSTICE
www.ellenjackson.net

What a wonderful collection of short stories - really great to read and put down, come back later for more. The stories are from around the world which I particularly liked. All are very well written, easy to get into, leave you with things to think about. Here are the titles of the stories:
Part 1: Theft
- Why Hummingbird has a red throat
- The golden earring
- Raven steals the light
- The sun cow and the theif

Part 2: Surrender
- How Maui snared the sun
- How the cock got his crown
- Loki and the death of light
- The pull-together morning

Part 3: The Grace
- Grandfather mantis and his thinking strings
- The girl who married the sun
- The light keepers box
- La Befana and the Royal Child of Light

For each story we're told what country its from and a little background for contect. Excellent!!

The last part of the book has rites (e.g. tree offering, give away) and games for winter solstice nights and solstice songs (e.g. deck the halls, joy to the world etc - different lyrics from the traditional christian songs)

There's also a great bibliography to check out more books

Highly recommended.

I love this little volume of Winter Solstice tales from diverse cultures around the world. I believe that exploring the rich symbolism of the Yuletide season helps to make this joyful time of year come more fully to life. These clever stories are sure to further your understanding of the meanings of the holiday celebrations you have enjoyed all your life, adding new dimension to your future celebrations. They offer an opportunity to increase your sense of oneness with others who may worship and believe differently from yourself but who are none-the-less your sisters and brothers. There are tables at the back of this book which have short ritual ideas to use in your own celebrations and revels as well as some clever lyric revisions to well-known carols that put a Winter Solstice spin on them. I am a Wiccan Priestess and have used this book in crafting an annual public, ecumenical Yule ritual with great success. I recommend it for fireside reading as you wait up to greet the new born light.

My children and I are beginning a study of ancient civilizations and I bought the three Gilgamesh books to expand our coverage of ancient Sumer. These books are just amazing! The story itself is powerful but I wondered how the author was going to tone down some of the violence; not to mention the fact that Shamat was a prostitute in other versions. Ludmilla Zeman has brought this story to children with intensity and grace that comes as a complete surprise. I especially liked her painting of the chaste kiss between Shamat and Enkidu with the explanation that Shamat taught Enkidu to speak and together they explored the ways of love. Very tender.

In her illustrations, Ludmilla Zeman has made an attempt to incorporate actual historical artifacts. These are all high-quality books in every sense and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Gilgamesh the King

The Revenge of Ishtar:

"The city of Uruk had become the happiest place in the world....But the peace and joy did not last." When Shamhat, beloved of all who lived in Uruk, is killed, Gilgamesh gets Enkidu to promise to travel with him to seek revenge on the monster Humbaba, who is responsible for Shamhat's death. But completing their mission only brings more trouble as their success attracts the attention of Ishtar.

Can Gilgamesh and Enkidu hope to prevail against the wrath of a goddess? Will Ishtar ever leave Uruk in peace?

Written for eight to twelve year olds, this is the second book in a trilogy. The Mesopotamian styled illustrations add to the book's story. The author's note on the last page gives background information on Mesopotamia, the great forest, the story itself, the Game of Twenty Squares, and how this story came down to us.

I take issue with one thing in this book. The author chose to use the name Ishtar, which we are more familiar with, rather than Ishtar's Mesopotamian counterpart, in the telling--and the title--of this tale.

The Last Quest of Gilgamesh

We really appreciate the beauty of this series of books as it covers "The Epic of Gilgamesh" in an appropriate and accessible way for our children. We love to use actual historic documents in our study if possible, but the actual epic is too uncomfortably graphic even for our older children, so we use these for everyone as we study Mesopotamia, Sumer and Babylon. There are not many books that cover these Near East cultures, which makes this set especially valuable. Along with "Our Young Folks' Josephus" as our history spine, "Science in Ancient Mesopotamia" and "Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors: An Activity Guide (covering Hittites, Nubians, Mesopopotamians and Egyptians) this series helps considerably to round out our ancient history studies and to teach our children about one of the most ancient tales in the world in a beautifully engaging way.

Ripsnorting Whoppers is a great book to read!It's really funny & enjoyable.I got to eat lunch with Mr.Sowash last year at my school.He has a good way of putting things,and he is really funny.I think everybody should get a chance to meet him.He also has another good book out that you should read called Ohio hero's.They are both Great books & once you read them you will be temted to put in a revew!

Rick Sowash is a very intelligent and unique individual and I am glad that he takes interest in the history and the famous people that have come from Lebanon. He taught my whole school about the book for right to read week and it was very exciting.

Enjoyed this book. The stories are appropriate for people of all ages. Definately recommend this book.