Customer Reviews

A Short Guide to Classical Mythology

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Kirkwood's "A Short Guide to Classical Mythology" is exactly what it claims to be. Dictionary-like without being dry, the guide is an alphabetical list of people, places, and events in Greco-Roman mythology. Some entries are short, referring the reader to a longer one. The long entries are summaries of important epics or stories.

While the format of the book makes it clearly a reference book instead of an exploration of mythology, this makes it a convenient and quick tool for students or teachers studying Classics, or simply for anyone unfamiliar with Classical Mythology. As seen by the numerous references to more modern authors and poets such as Voltaire and Dante, mythological references are everywhere in literature, and those who may not have been steeped in this tradition in class would find this book extremely helpful. Unlike other mythology books, such as Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" or D'Aulaires' "Book of Greek Myths," this book is truly a "short guide" that does not require the reader to look up a person in the index and then read all the way through a story to find out about them. Already alphabetical, Kirkwood's book gives a short description of the person, and anyone who wishes to read more can go to the story referenced. This book is a great guide for readers with any level of interest in mythology.

This little tiny book, barely over a hundred pages long, is the one single book out of all reference books on classical mythology that I'd recommend over any and all others. I began using it when I got to college in 1959, and I used it heavily through the next ten or fifteen years, when I began teaching literature courses and had to learn the classical texts as I went along, often hardly a step ahead of the students. I use it still, from time to time, but back then, Kirkwood saw me through difficult times, again and again and again. The entries in his book are clear and concise, and the cross-referencing is superb. From this little book, a person can gradually--especially if using it in conjunction with the actual reading of ancient texts--become easily and naturally familiar with the great and seemingly complicated myths underlying Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Kirkwood makes all clear, all accessible, and all useful, and he does it without the least bit of unnecessary simplifying or taking of shortcuts. You get the real stuff and in the real way, all in barely a hundred pages. This little book should be as famous for what IT does as The Elements of Style is for what IT does.

Eric Larsen, Emeritus Professor of English at John Jay College, CUNY, and author of the novels "An American Memory," "I Am Zoe Handke," "The End of the 19th Century," and of the nonfiction "A Nation Gone Blind: America in an Age of Simplification and Deceit."