Download or read book The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think written by Mark Williams and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh and revealing look at the stories at the heart of Celtic mythology, exploring their cultural impact throughout history up to the present day. The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think explores a fascinating question: how do myths that were deeply embedded in the customs and beliefs of their original culture find themselves retold and reinterpreted across the world, centuries or even millennia later? Focusing on the myths that have had the greatest cultural impact, Mark Williams reveals the lasting influence of Celtic mythology, from medieval literature to the modern fantasy genre. An elegantly written retelling, Williams captures the splendor of the original myths while also delving deeper into the history of their meanings, offering readers an intelligent and engaging take on these powerful stories. Beautiful illustrations of the artworks these myths have inspired over the centuries are presented in a color plates section and in black and white within the text. Ten chapters recount the myths and explore the lasting influence of legendary figures, including King Arthur, the Celtic figure who paradoxically became the archetypal English national hero; the Irish and Scottish hero Finn MacCool, who as “Fingal” caught the imagination of Napoleon Bonaparte, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Felix Mendelssohn; and the Welsh mythical figure Blodeuwedd, magically created from flowers of the oak, who inspired W. B. Yeats. Williams’s mythological expertise and captivating writing style make this volume essential reading for anyone seeking a greater appreciation of the myths that have shaped our artistic and literary canons and continue to inspire today.
Download or read book The Greek Myths that Shape the Way We Think written by Richard Buxton and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh and revealing look at the stories at the heart of Greek mythology, exploring their cultural impact throughout history up to the present day. How do ancient Greek myths find themselves retold and reinterpreted in cultures across the world, several millennia later? In this volume, bestselling author Richard Buxton explores the power that eight iconic Greek myths hold in the modern world. Buxton traces these stories and archetypes from their ancient forms through their transformations over time in literature, art, cinema, psychology, and politics. Over their long lives, Greek myths have expressed a myriad of meanings: from aesthetic refinement to erotic fantasy to political power. Greek myths are an integral part of a broader cultural history, their changes in meaning signifying major shifts in art and society; myths that strike a resonant cultural chord in one period may fall out of fashion the next. This erudite yet accessible exploration examines how the world’s most influential myths have survived to the present, and how they have shaped our ideas on everything from family and society to sexuality and culture. As Buxton explains, each of the eight featured myths is fundamental to the way we think about ourselves and the world. The figure of Prometheus has inspired science fiction icons from Mary Shelley to Ridley Scott. The tragedy of Medea has had a profound impact on theater, feminism, and even criminology. Oedipus’s influence stretches far beyond Freud. The rich visual tradition inspired by Greek myths—from pottery to paintings to popular culture —illustrates this wide-ranging, sometimes surprising study, making this book a beautiful object to own as well as a thought-provoking read.
Download or read book Founding Myths written by Ray Raphael and published by New Press, The. This book was released on 2014-07-04 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published ten years ago, award-winning historian Ray Raphael’s Founding Myths has since established itself as a landmark of historical myth-busting. With the author’s trademark wit and flair, Founding Myths exposes the errors and inventions in America’s most cherished tales, from Paul Revere’s famous ride to Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech. For the seventy thousand readers who have been captivated by Raphael’s eye-opening accounts, history has never been the same. In this revised tenth-anniversary edition, Raphael revisits the original myths and explores their further evolution over the past decade, uncovering new stories and peeling back additional layers of misinformation. This new edition also examines the highly politicized debates over America’s past, as well as how school textbooks and popular histories often reinforce rather than correct historical mistakes. A book that “explores the truth behind the stories of the making of our nation” (National Public Radio), this revised edition of Founding Myths will be a welcome resource for anyone seeking to separate historical fact from fiction.
Download or read book Myths That Shaped Our History written by Simon Webb and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Simon Webb’s eminently readable book may draw gasps of horror, disbelief, or disdain . . . a mind-blowing and fascinating journey through history.” —On: Yorkshire Magazine All nations and peoples have a body of legendary tales and semi-historical episodes which explain who they are and help to define their place in the world. The British are no exception, and in this book, Simon Webb explores some of the most well-known episodes from British history; stories which tell the British about themselves and the country in which they live. Examining these events in detail reveals something rather surprising. In every case, the historical facts are greatly at variance with what most British people think that they know about such things as the Battle of Waterloo, Magna Carta, the suffragettes, and so on. Indeed, in many cases the reality is precisely the opposite of what is commonly believed. For example, the Battle of Waterloo was not a victory for the British army, Magna Carta did not set out any rights for ordinary people and the suffragettes delayed, rather than hastened, the granting of votes for women. This book shows that much of what the British believe about their history has been either grossly distorted or is just plain wrong; revealing some of the misconceptions which are held about famous incidents from the nation’s past. In each case, the truth is far richer and infinitely more interesting than the version learned by schoolchildren. These myths, for that is what they essentially are, reveal as much about the way that the British people like to see themselves now as they do about what happened in the past.
Download or read book Myths America Lives By written by Richard T. Hughes and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Six myths lie at the heart of the American experience. Taken as aspirational, four of those myths remind us of our noblest ideals, challenging us to realize our nation's promise while galvanizing the sense of hope and unity we need to reach our goals. Misused, these myths allow for illusions of innocence that fly in the face of white supremacy, the primal American myth that stands at the heart of all the others.
Download or read book Myth America written by Kevin Kruse and published by . This book was released on 2023-12-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this "incisive" (Vanity Fair) and "authoritative" (New York Times) instant New York Times bestseller, America's top historians set the record straight on the most pernicious myths about our nation's past The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Distortions of the past promoted in the conservative media have led large numbers of Americans to believe in fictions over facts, making constructive dialogue impossible and imperiling our democracy. In Myth America, Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer have assembled an all-star team of fellow historians to push back against this misinformation. The contributors debunk narratives that portray the New Deal and Great Society as failures, immigrants as hostile invaders, and feminists as anti-family warriors--among numerous other partisan lies. Based on a firm foundation of historical scholarship, their findings revitalize our understanding of American history. Replacing myths with research and reality, Myth America is essential reading amid today's heated debates about our nation's past. With Essays By Akhil Reed Amar - Kathleen Belew - Carol Anderson - Kevin M. Kruse - Erika Lee - Daniel Immerwahr - Elizabeth Hinton - Naomi Oreskes - Erik M. Conway - Ari Kelman - Geraldo Cadava - David A. Bell - Joshua Zeitz - Sarah Churchwell - Michael Kazin - Karen L. Cox - Eric Rauchway - Glenda Gilmore - Natalia Mehlman Petrzela - Lawrence B. Glickman - Julian E. Zelizer
Download or read book Myth in History History in Myth written by Society for Netherlandic History (U.S.). International Conference and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1975, a group of Dutch and British scholars published a conference volume of collected essays entitled "Some Political Mythologies." That conference sought to examine the political myth as an object of historical study, particularly in the context of the tumultuous and exceptional history of the Low Countries. Thirty years later, a more diverse group of scholars gathered to re-examine the history of Dutch myth-making in light of developments in theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the role of myths in national identity, moral geography, and community formation. The results of their efforts appear in this volume, "Myth in History: History in Myth." The essays cover developments in history, anthropology, cartography, philosophy, art history, and literature as they pertain to how the Dutch historically perceived these myths and how the myths have been treated by previous generations of historians.
Download or read book Seven Myths of Native American History written by Paul Jentz and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-02 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Seven Myths of Native American History will provide undergraduates and general readers with a very useful introduction to Native America past and present. Jentz identifies the origins and remarkable staying power of these myths at the same time he exposes and dismantles them." —Colin G. Calloway, Dartmouth College
Download or read book A Short History of Myth Myths series written by Karen Armstrong and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-10-29 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are myths? How have they evolved? And why do we still so desperately need them? A history of myth is a history of humanity, Karen Armstrong argues in this insightful and eloquent book: our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, link us to our ancestors and each other. This is a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense–from Palaeolithic times to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last 500 years–and why we dismiss it only at our peril.
Download or read book A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths written by Stephen P. Kershaw and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book leads the reader through these vibrant stories, from the origins of the gods through to the homecomings of the Trojan heroes. All the familiar narratives are here, along with some less familiar characters and motifs. In addition to the tales, the book explains key issues arising from the narratives, and discusses the myths and their wider relevance. This long-overdue book crystallises three key areas of interest: the nature of the tales; the stories themselves; and how they have and might be interpreted. For the first time, it brings together aspects of Greek mythology only usually available in disparate forms - namely children's books and academic works. There will be much here that is interesting, surprising, and strange as well as familiar. Experts and non-experts, adults, students and schoolchildren alike will gain entertainment and insight from this fascinating and important volume.
Download or read book The Illustrated Book of Myths written by and published by DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley). This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of myths from many cultures.
Download or read book The Myths That Made America written by Heike Paul and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2014-08-31 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This essential introduction to American studies examines the core foundational myths upon which the nation is based and which still determine discussions of US-American identities today. These myths include the myth of »discovery,« the Pocahontas myth, the myth of the Promised Land, the myth of the Founding Fathers, the melting pot myth, the myth of the West, and the myth of the self-made man. The chapters provide extended analyses of each of these myths, using examples from popular culture, literature, memorial culture, school books, and every-day life. Including visual material as well as study questions, this book will be of interest to any student of American studies and will foster an understanding of the United States of America as an imagined community by analyzing the foundational role of myths in the process of nation building.
Download or read book Myth America written by Kevin M. Kruse and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2023-01-03 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this instant New York Times bestseller, America’s top historians set the record straight on the most pernicious myths about our nation’s past. The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Distortions of the past promoted in the conservative media have led large numbers of Americans to believe in fictions over facts, making constructive dialogue impossible and imperiling our democracy. In Myth America, Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer have assembled an all-star team of fellow historians to push back against this misinformation. The contributors debunk narratives that portray the New Deal and Great Society as failures, immigrants as hostile invaders, and feminists as anti-family warriors—among numerous other partisan lies. Based on a firm foundation of historical scholarship, their findings revitalize our understanding of American history. Replacing myths with research and reality, Myth America is essential reading amid today’s heated debates about our nation’s past. With Essays By Akhil Reed Amar • Kathleen Belew • Carol Anderson • Kevin Kruse • Erika Lee • Daniel Immerwahr • Elizabeth Hinton • Naomi Oreskes • Erik M. Conway • Ari Kelman • Geraldo Cadava • David A. Bell • Joshua Zeitz • Sarah Churchwell • Michael Kazin • Karen L. Cox • Eric Rauchway • Glenda Gilmore • Natalia Mehlman Petrzela • Lawrence B. Glickman • Julian E. Zelizer
Download or read book Death by Petticoat written by Mary Miley Theobald and published by Andrews Mcmeel+ORM. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This myth-busting compendium sets the record straight on American history, from famous-but-false legends to weird-but-true stories. American history is full of oft-repeated errors and outright fabrications—as well as truths that are stranger than fiction. Collaborating with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Mary Miley Theobald has uncovered the real stories behind many well-known myth-understandings. Did pregnant women really seclude themselves indoors? Were uneven stairs made to trip up burglars? Did people only bathe once a year? Death by Petticoat reveals the truth about these and many other funny, surprising, and strange misapprehensions of history.
Download or read book The Mound Builder Myth written by Jason Colavito and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Say you found that a few dozen people, operating at the highest levels of society, conspired to create a false ancient history of the American continent to promote a religious, white-supremacist agenda in the service of supposedly patriotic ideals. Would you call it fake news? In nineteenth-century America, this was in fact a powerful truth that shaped Manifest Destiny. The Mound Builder Myth is the first book to chronicle the attempt to recast the Native American burial mounds as the work of a lost white race of “true” native Americans. Thomas Jefferson’s pioneering archaeology concluded that the earthen mounds were the work of Native Americans. In the 1894 report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Cyrus Thomas concurred, drawing on two decades of research. But in the century in between, the lie took hold, with Presidents Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Abraham Lincoln adding their approval and the Mormon Church among those benefiting. Jason Colavito traces this monumental deception from the farthest reaches of the frontier to the halls of Congress, mapping a century-long conspiracy to fabricate and promote a false ancient history—and enumerating its devastating consequences for contemporary Native people. Built upon primary sources and first-person accounts, the story that The Mound Builder Myth tells is a forgotten chapter of American history—but one that reads like the Da Vinci Code as it plays out at the upper reaches of government, religion, and science. And as far-fetched as it now might seem that a lost white race once ruled prehistoric America, the damage done by this “ancient” myth has clear echoes in today’s arguments over white nationalism, multiculturalism, “alternative facts,” and the role of science and the control of knowledge in public life.
Download or read book The Modern Myths written by Philip Ball and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-10-17 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With The Modern Myths, brilliant science communicator Philip Ball spins a new yarn. From novels and comic books to B-movies, it is an epic exploration of literature, new media and technology, the nature of storytelling, and the making and meaning of our most important tales. Myths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time—fun and fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball shows, we are still writing them—and still living them—today. From Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein to Batman, many stories written in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called “modern myths.” But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously. Our stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did. Through the medium of narratives that all of us know in their basic outline and which have no clear moral or resolution, these modern myths explore some of our deepest fears, dreams, and anxieties. We keep returning to these tales, reinventing them endlessly for new uses. But what are they really about, and why do we need them? What myths are still taking shape today? And what makes a story become a modern myth? In The Modern Myths, Ball takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our collective imagination, asking what some of its most popular stories reveal about the nature of being human in the modern age.
Download or read book Evolutions written by Oren Harman and published by INTERNATIONAL EDITION. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An artful exploration of how the language of science has replaced old mythologies" --
