The Universal Myths: Heroes, Gods, Tricksters, and Others (Meridian) [Paperback]

Alexander Eliot (Author), Joseph Campbell (Author), Mircea Eliade (Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Meridian | Publication Date: February 1, 1990

This is a survey of the common myths that connect all cultures, Eastern and Western, from ancient times to the present day. They cross boundaries of time, geography and culture - laying a foundation for the religious, social and political heritage of nations and peoples.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Plume (February 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452010276
• ISBN-13: 978-0452010277
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It's Not All Bad, January 21, 2004

By 

Eleanore Stasheff (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Universal Myths: Heroes, Gods, Tricksters, and Others (Meridian) (Paperback)

This book does cover a wide range of cultures and myths, exploring them in a wider, more universal context by placing certain myths next to other myths and drawing a few conclusions that are natural, intelligent, and reminicent of Joseph Campbell. This is a great book for light reading and glancing through, however, this is not a good book to use as a reference tool in understanding myths, because of the way in which it is put together. In a collection of myths that are categorized by universal theme, the table of contents becomes an important guide to the understanding of the stated themes and the author's insights. But in this book the table of contents doesn't match the rest of the book AT ALL. Many of the myths that claim to be listed are not, and several myths appear that were not listed at all. Myths appear under totally different sections then they were listed by the author at the begining, which leads to great confusion as to which section they truly belong to. This is not a problem if you're reading this for sheer entertainment and have no intention of using it as a reference book for research or writing in the fields of mythology and universal themes. My suggestion is to rip out the table of contents and write yourself a new one based on the actual book. Unfortunately it brings the writer's credibility into question since several myths seem to be in sections they don't belong with and the book is completely contradictory from the first page on.
I was deeply disappointed with this book, having relied on the table of contents that Amazon.com allows you to see and the other excerpts included to tell how expansive it was and useful it would be as a resource for understanding universal themes. Saddly there were many myths I was glad to see included that in the end were not included in anything more then the table of contents.
Perhaps it was my own error for relying so much on what Amazon.com allowed me to see of the book (ie the table of contents) and for assuming that the book followed the table of contents and was as well organized and thought provoking as it appeared to be. That was my mistake and I want to make sure other people realize what they are getting when they purchase this book. As I said, it's not a bad book if you rip out the table of contents and don't rely on it too heavily for mythic accurasy and stunnning conclusions about universal themes. It's a nice introduction to the concept of universal themes and a nice selection of myths from around the world. The index was much more helpful then the table of contents and the first chapter on creation myths was really very good.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wrong Table of Contents, February 26, 2005

By 

Rav driver (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Universal Myths: Heroes, Gods, Tricksters, and Others (Meridian) (Paperback)

I was lucky. I checked this book out of the library.

Although the information in the book is interesting and was, in fact, almost exactly what I was looking for, I too was disappointed that items in the table of contents did not appear in the actual chapters of the book!

I checked here at Amazon and was glad to read a review that confirmed my findings--that the table of contents was misleading. This could be a very big problem for an online buyer.

My advice: Check it out of the library and if you like it, then buy it online!