Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [247]
Williams, Dr. William F., editor. Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. New York: Facts on File, 2000. A critical and skeptical scientific guide to the world’s many frauds, hoaxes, superstitions, and mistaken theories, many of them related to ancient myth and civilizations.
Willis, Roy, editor. Dictionary of World Myth: An A-Z Reference Guide to Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, Heroines and Fabulous Beasts. London: Duncan Baird, 1995. The title says it all.
General Works of History and Criticism
Armstrong, Karen. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. New York: Knopf, 1993. Best-selling account of the rise of the three dominant monotheistic religions with discussion of their pagan or mythical roots. Scholarly but very accessible.
Armstrong, Karen. Buddha. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. An insightful, brief historical and “philosophical” biography of the legendary founder of Buddhism.
Ballard, Robert D. and Toni Eugene. Mystery of the Ancient Seafarers: Early Maritime Civilizations. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2004. Heavily illustrated account of recent discoveries in the Mediterranean and Black Seas that shed light on the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, and other early sailors; by the man who found the Titanic.
Benedict, Jeff. No Bone Unturned: Inside the World of a Top Forensic Scientist and His Work on America’s Most Notorious Crimes and Disasters. New York: Perennial, 2003. Fascinating account of the Smithsonian scientist who rebuilds skeletons and is at the center of the controversy of “Kennewick man,” the oldest known human remains in North America.
Bierlein, J. F. Parallel Myths. New York: Ballantine Wellspring, 1994. Accessible work discussing the themes common to many mythologies.
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself. New York: Random House, 1983. How humanity learned much of what it knows. Erudite and fascinating.
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Seekers: The Story of Man’s Continuing Quest to Understand His World. New York: Random House, 1998. A survey of the history of philosophy, religion, and the sciences in the Western world.
Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization. New York: Doubleday, 1995. The first in the Hinges of History series, this book recounts the little-known role of medieval Irish monks in preserving history through illuminated manuscripts. Entertaining and accessible history.
Cahill, Thomas. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2003. The fourth volume in the best-selling Hinges of History series, an entertaining and accessible history of the legacy of the Greeks.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1949. Campbell’s first classic account of the role of the hero in myths.
Campbell, Joseph. The Mythic Image. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974. A heavily illustrated exploration of the relation between dreams, mythology, and artistic imagery.
Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. New York: Broadway Books, 1988. A summing-up of the televised conversations about mythology between Joseph Campbell, the great teacher of mythology, and journalist Bill Moyers.
Camus, Albert, translated by Justin O’Brien. The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. New York: Vintage Books, 1983. One of the most famous modern uses of ancient mythology, by the Nobel Prize–winning French existentialist who explored the idea of living in a universe devoid of meaning.
Ceram, C. W. Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archeology (second revised edition). New York: Knopf, 1967. Although somewhat dated, this is still an excellent introduction to the history of modern archaeology, focusing on the incredible real-life adventures of the likes of Heinrich Schliemann and Howard Carter.
Chadwick, Henry. The