If many hands make light work, how can too many cooks spoil the broth? If you'll find the best advice on your pillow, are proverbs even useful? How come these nuggets of wisdom are so similar all over the world? In this compact book (knowledge takes up no space!), modern Irish painter Alice O'Neill takes a world-wide tour of more than 1,500 useful proverbs, comparing their similarities and contradictions, and revealing the secret patterns of human nature, common sense and human folly. WOODEN BOOKS are small but packed with information. "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Rich and Artful" THE LANCET. "Genuinely mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST. "Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.

"The Jesus Dynasty" offers a startling new interpretation of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity that is grounded in careful analysis of the earliest Christian documents and recent archaeological discoveries, including the much-discussed "Jesus family tomb."
In "The Jesus Dynasty," biblical scholar James Tabor brings us closer than ever to the historical Jesus. He explains the crucial relationship between Jesus, a royal descendant of David, and his relative John the Baptizer, a priestly descendant of Aaron and Jesus' teacher. When John was killed, several of his followers -- including Jesus' four brothers -- joined with Jesus, who continued John's mission, preaching the same apocalyptic message. After Jesus confronted the Roman authorities in Jerusalem and was crucified, his brother James succeeded him as the leader of the Jesus dynasty.
James Tabor has studied the earliest surviving documents of Christianity for more than thirty years and has participated in important archaeological excavations in Israel. His reconstruction of the life of Jesus and his followers, and of the early years of Christianity, will change our understanding of one of the most crucial moments in history.

One of Oprah Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2021! 'Genre-bending and darkly comic, Grushin's fourth novel is a weird and wonderful triumph.' And they lived happily ever after . . . didn't they? Cinderella married the man of her dreams - the perfect ending she deserved after diligently following all the fairy-tale rules. Yet now, two children and thirteen-and-a-half years later, things have gone badly wrong. One night, she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the Witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives. But as the old hag flings the last ingredients into the cauldron, Cinderella doesn't ask for a love spell to win back her Prince Charming. Instead, she wants him dead. Endlessly surprising and wildly inventive, The Charmed Wife is a sophisticated literary fairy tale for the twenty-first century that weaves together time and place, fantasy and reality, to conjure a world unlike any other. Nothing in it is quite what it seems, and the twists and turns of its magical, dark, swiftly shifting paths take us deep into the heart of romance, marriage and the very nature of storytelling. 'Dark and dreamy. Inside the plot, magic comes and goes. But inside the reader, it's all magic - all of us happily caught in Grushin's hypnotic spell.' - Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and The Jane Austen Book Club 'Fall under its charms, I dare you' - Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked

The ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, the primordial Titan who defied the Olympian gods by stealing fire from the heavens as a gift for humanity, enjoyed unprecedented popularity during the Romantic era. An international coterie of writers such as Goethe, Monti, Byron, the Shelleys, Sainte-Helene, Coleridge, Browning, and Bridges engaged with the legend, while composers such as Beethoven, Reichardt, Schubert, Wolf, Liszt, Halevy, Saint-SaA"ns, Holmes, Faure, Parry, Goldmark, and Bargiel based works of diverse genres on the fable. Romantic authors and composers developed a unique perspective on the myth, emphasizing its themes of rebellion, punishment for transgression and creative autonomy, in great contrast to artists of the preceding era, who more characteristically ignored the tribulations of Prometheus and depicted him as the animator of a naA-ve, Arcadian mankind who, when awakened from their spiritual dormancy, expressed astonishment at the wonders of nature and paid homage to the Titan as a new god. Paul Bertagnolli charts the progress of the myth during the nineteenth century, as it articulates an extraordinary variety of issues pertaining to culture, society, aesthetics, and philosophy. Drawing on archival research, dance history, sketch studies, literary theory, linear analysis, topos theory, and reception history, individual chapters demonstrate that the legend served as a vehicle to express opinions on subjects as diverse as aristocratic patronage, movements of the body on the public stage, rebellion against political and religious authority, outright atheism, humanitarianism of the German Enlightenment, interest in the music of Greek antiquity, industrialization, nationalism inflamed by war, populism, and the aesthetics of musical form. Composers often resorted to varied and unorthodox musical techniques in order to reflect such remarkable subjects: Beethoven outraged critics by implying a key other than the tonic at the outset of the overture to

Myth and the Greatest Generation calls into question the glowing paradigm of the World War II generation set up by such books as The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw.

Including analysis of news reports, memoirs, novels, films and other cultural artefacts Ken Rose shows the war was much more disruptive to the lives of Americans in the military and on the home front during World War II than is generally acknowledged. Issues of racial, labor unrest, juvenile delinquency, and marital infidelity were rampant, and the black market flourished.

This book delves into both personal and national issues, calling into questions the dominant view of World War II as a ~The Good Wara (TM).

In medieval Europe, a new power was rising. A heresy had infiltrated the Catholic-hierarchy beginning a centuries-long campaign to alter the Churchs original teachings. This heresy was a penitent movement, based on a Babylonian cult of the dead. The bizarre public spectacles they displayed -- and still do today in the streets of Europe -- include acts of penance and self-mortification, but there are smokescreens to draw attention from the movements true workings. The authors led a team of researchers tracking this movement from the Middle East to Italy, Germany and France. Eventually, they realized that the mystery of Rennes-le-Chteau, linked with the extraordinary fortune of one Brenger Saunire, was another episode in the long and intriguing tale of this heretical movement. The Rise reveals that within the world of religion there have long been secret battles between the Church hierarchy and various movements that have tried to penetrate and take it oversometimes successfully!

Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a King sat at a window and sewed. As he sewed and gazed out onto the landscape, he pricked his finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the snow outside . . . People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales - to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit upon a dilemma, something previous versions of these stories were missing, and so they decided to make one vital change.. They haven't rewritten the stories in this book. They haven't reimagined endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders. It might not sound like that much of a change, but you'll be dazzled by the world this swap creates - and amazed by the new characters you're about to discover.

Whether on top of the Christmas tree, at the bottom of the garden, or in school plays, today fairies are considered sweet, dainty creatures with wands and butterfly wings. But, as Diane Purkiss shows, they have far more wicked origins as troublemakers, child snatchers, seducers, and changelings, representing society's deepest fears and desires regarding birth, sex, and death. From these dangerous beings of ancient myths and medieval folklore to the sanitized "wingy thingies" of Shakespeare and the Victorians, and even modern myths of alien abduction, this is a riveting chronicle of the need to believe in fairies.

Have you ever taken a walk in the woods and felt like you were not alone? That's because you weren't Forests, lakes, mountains, caves--even your garden--are alive with the spirits of nature. Faeries are real, and you can learn to commune with a whole world of unseen beings, including elves, devas, and nature spirits. With an open mind and a little patience, you can begin to recognize their presence all around you. This book will help you deepen your connection to the natural world as you explore the magical, mystical world of the faerie folk.

--Discover hidden truths in faerie tales and use them as pathways into the faerie realm--Learn the basic habitats, powers and behaviors of faeries, elves, and other nature spirits--Read personal accounts of actual faerie encounters--Invoke fire spirits for traditional psychic readings--Share the magic and knowledge of twenty tree spirits--Find the elementals--gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders--with which you resonate most --Contact water sprites, mermaids and other water spirits--Find wood nymphs and the "lady of the woods"--Draw dragons into your environment with the right fragrances --Attract a faerie godmother into your life

Recapture the magic and wonder of a world where trees still speak and every flower tells a story. Explore the faerie realm--a place where faerie tales can and do come true.

A fascinating examination of how Americans think about and write about witches, from the 'real' witches tried and sometimes executed in early New England to modern re-imaginings of witches as pagan priestesses, comic-strip heroines and feminist icons. The first half of the book is a thorough re-reading of the original documents describing witchcraft prosecutions from 1640-1700 and a re-thinking of these sources as far less coherent and trustworthy than most historians have considered them to be. The second half of the book examines how these historical narratives have transformed into myths of witchcraft still current in American society, writing and visual culture. The discussion includes references to everything from Increase Mather and Edgar Allan Poe to Joss Whedon (the writer/director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which includes a Wiccan character) and The Blair Witch Project.

A fascinating examination of how Americans think about and write about witches, from the 'real' witches tried and sometimes executed in early New England to modern re-imaginings of witches as pagan priestesses, comic-strip heroines and feminist icons.
The first half of the book is a thorough re-reading of the original documents describing witchcraft prosecutions from 1640-1700 and a re-thinking of these sources as far less coherent and trustworthy than most historians have considered them to be.
The second half of the book examines how these historical narratives have transformed into myths of witchcraft still current in American society, writing and visual culture. The discussion includes references to everything from Increase Mather and Edgar Allan Poe to Joss Whedon (the writer/director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which includes a Wiccan character) and The Blair Witch Project.

'This is a treasure ... Such a celebration of the wheel of the year' JACKIE MORRIS, CILIP Kate Greenaway winner of The Lost Words on The Hare and the MoonCatherine Hyde follows the journey of the bee and the sun in a calendar of glorious full colour paintings that celebrate the sensory delights of herbs and spices, seasoned with bee and plant lore. From the rising and setting of the Pleiades, from sunrise to sunset, the bee and the sun work in harmony, a miracle of nature, growth and new life. Beneath the shifting constellations, equinoxes and solstice markers, as the bee progresses from plant to flower, acclaimed artist Catherine Hyde pays tribute to the magic and mystery of nature. Snippets of ancient bee beliefs and plant folklore are complemented by paintings of ginger, cardamon, marjoram, vanilla, nutmeg, basil, juniper, lavender and many more delights. A book to treasure, and an ode to the wonder of nature.

For centuries fairy tales have been a powerful mode of passing cultural values onto our children, and for many these stories delight and haunt us from cradle to grave. But how have these stories become so powerful and why?

In When Dreams Came True, Jack Zipes explains the social life of the fairy tale, from the sixteenth century on into the twenty-first. Whether exploring Charles Perrault or the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen or The Thousand and One Nights, The Happy Prince or Pinocchio, L. Frank Baum or Hermann Hesse, Zipes shows how the authors of our beloved fairy tales used the genre to articulate personal desires, political views, and aesthetic preferences within particular social contexts. Above all, he demonstrates the role that the fairy tale has assumed in the civilizing process-the way it imparts values, norms, and aesthetic taste to children and adults.

This second edition of one of Jack Zipes's best-loved books includes a new preface and two new chapters on J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

For centuries fairy tales have been a powerful mode of passing cultural values onto our children, and for many these stories delight and haunt us from cradle to grave. But how have these stories become so powerful and why?

In When Dreams Came True, Jack Zipes explains the social life of the fairy tale, from the sixteenth century on into the twenty-first. Whether exploring Charles Perrault or the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen or The Thousand and One Nights, The Happy Prince or Pinocchio, L. Frank Baum or Hermann Hesse, Zipes shows how the authors of our beloved fairy tales used the genre to articulate personal desires, political views, and aesthetic preferences within particular social contexts. Above all, he demonstrates the role that the fairy tale has assumed in the civilizing processthe way it imparts values, norms, and aesthetic taste to children and adults.

This second edition of one of Jack Zipess best-loved books includes a new preface and two new chapters on J.M. Barries Peter Pan and E.T.A. Hoffmans The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

The Welsh Fairy Book is the finest example of Welsh book illustration to have been produced in the ferment of the early twentieth century. Published originally in 1907, the stories collected here were set in prose by the Welsh folklorist W. Jenkyn Thomas, editor of classical texts and of the poetry collection Penillion Telyn (1894), and illustrated by the Hungarian graphic artist Willy Pogany in the art nouveau idiom that was at the height of its popularity in the first decade of the twentieth century. This edition includes an introduction by Juliette Wood, chronicling and contextualising changing attitudes towards the work of folklorists and Welsh folk studies, to present again this important example of illustrated text from Wales

In the ancient myth, Oedipus ceased to be king when he discovered his crimes. Nonetheless, since the Renaissance, he has ruled the kingdom of the imagination. The twentieth century begins with the Oedipus complex in Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" and the power of the Oedipus myth continued to manifest itself in an astonishing range of artistic and intellectual work.
As a volume in the "Gods and Heroes" series, this book explores a key figure in ancient myth incisively and accessibly, yet with enough scholarly detail to be an 'all-you-need-to-know' for lower level courses, a platform for further study at a more advanced level or as a reference book of key information for researchers/academics.

In his latest book, fairy tales expert Jack Zipes explores the question of why some fairy tales "work" and others don't, why the fairy tale is uniquely capable of getting under the skin of culture and staying there. Why, in other words, fairy tales "stick." Long an advocate of the fairy tale as a serious genre with wide social and cultural ramifications, Jack Zipes here makes his strongest case for the idea of the fairy tale not just as a collection of stories for children but a profoundly important genre.

Why Fairy Tales Stick contains two chapters on the history and theory of the genre, followed by case studies of famous tales (including Cinderella, Snow White, and Bluebeard), followed by a summary chapter on the problematic nature of traditional storytelling in the twenty-first century.

In his latest book, fairy tales expert Jack Zipes explores the question of why some fairy tales "work" and others don't, why the fairy tale is uniquely capable of getting under the skin of culture and staying there. Why, in other words, fairy tales "stick." Long an advocate of the fairy tale as a serious genre with wide social and cultural ramifications, Jack Zipes here makes his strongest case for the idea of the fairy tale not just as a collection of stories for children but a profoundly important genre.

Why Fairy Tales Stick contains two chapters on the history and theory of the genre, followed by case studies of famous tales (including Cinderella, Snow White, and Bluebeard), followed by a summary chapter on the problematic nature of traditional storytelling in the twenty-first century.

The fairy tale may be one of the most important cultural and social influences on children's lives. But until Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children's lives a " their behavior, values, and relationship to society. As Jack Zipes convincingly shows, fairy tales have always been a powerful discourse, capable of being used to shape or destabilize attitudes and behavior within culture.
For this new edition, the author has revised the work throughout and added a new introduction bringing this classic title up to date.

The fairy tale may be one of the most important cultural and social influences on children's lives. But until Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children's lives a " their behavior, values, and relationship to society. As Jack Zipes convincingly shows, fairy tales have always been a powerful discourse, capable of being used to shape or destabilize attitudes and behavior within culture.
For this new edition, the author has revised the work throughout and added a new introduction bringing this classic title up to date.

Hmong culture has had an oral tradition for millennia, but the language itself did not even exist in written form until the 1950s. Compiled by famed author and storyteller Norma Livo and coauthor, Dia Cha, this is the first collection of authentic Hmong tales to be published commercially in the English language. Beginning with a description of Hmong history, culture, and folklore, the book includes 16 pages of full-color photographs of Hmong dress and needlework and 27 captivating tales divided into three sections: beginnings; how/why stories; and stories of love, magic, and fun. Appropriate for high school and adult readers, with selected stories appropriate for younger children, this collection is an important addition to multicultural units.

The true folk riddle from oral traditions that are now rapidly disappearing from the face of the earth is one of the most ancient threads of culture. Truly old specimens of it are succinct, eccentric, poetic, and highly intense. Have you ever tried to guess a folk riddle? If you have, you couldn't fail to notice that the task is impossible. Contrary to common-sense expectations, a true folk riddle cannot be answered. Why so? Because it wasn't meant for individual wit. It was a collective property as concerns both the description and the answer.

The present study delves into the folk riddle from oral traditions by rereading works from the history of riddle study and reconsidering the problems they faced and solutions they found. It unfolds a chain of twenty-six functional and structural conditions that describe how the folk riddle is articulated as utterance. It offers a new and quite unexpected view of the subject. Among other things, the study argues that the true ancient folk riddle is a figure of concealment that has two targets: besides the recorded, explicit answer, it harbors another one, unpronounced and esoteric. The folk riddle, in this light, turns out to be much more hilarious than common wisdom would have it.

Sovereign ruler of the universe, controller of the weather, all-seeing father of gods and men: Zeus was the chief deity of the ancient Greek pantheon. His places of worship ranged from the household to Olympia, the greatest of all sanctuaries. His significance is reflected in the many chapters dedicated to him in books on Greek religion and myth but this is the first attempt to capture him in the round, in a single volume, for many years.
In a study that is at once masterly and comprehensive, Ken Dowden presents a study of this fascinating god for the new millennium. Myth, cult, art and art are examined, as are philosophy, drama, theology, European painting and much more. Not only is the period of the ancient Greeks covered but that of their predecessors, and above all that of their successors, the Romans. The importance of Zeus in the medieval period and modern times is discussed in a revealing section on reception.
The book contains many and varied illustrations, charts and mapsand provides a thorough and accessible, as well as scholarly, introduction to the chief god in the Greek pantheon.