Description: "[Kirk] carries out his task intelligently and sensitively and the result is probably the best general account of this diffuse and difficult field. . ."--Jack Goody, Antiquity ". . .the range and the humanity of this book are already so impressive that it seems monstrous to ask for more."--Frank Kermode, The Listener "Il libro del Kirk e di grande importanza."--Arnaldo Momigliano, Rivista Storica Italiana "The modestly expressed findings contrast sharply with some of the confident claims the author examines. Scholarship and the proper use of evidence stand out on every page, and there is a refreshing absence of the jargon which too often clutters this kind of work."--A.C.F. Verity, Greece and Rome "I found this book extremely rich and rewarding ot read. One cannot do justice here to the breadth of its scope, or to the coolness of its critical approach. By his open-minded and undogmatic analysis the author has brought new life to come very old problems. This is an achievement for which one is immensely grateful."--N.J. Richardson, Oxford Magazine
Review Quotes: "[Kirk's] great contribution is to bring together all the influential schools for a clear hard look and to open sensible lines for needed research into this elusive field. . . . His main point: no universal theory can explain all types of myth. . . . A most valuable and important book."--"Classical World