[PDF] The Last Myth eBook

Author : Matthew Barrett Gross
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 19,78 MB
Release : 2012-03-06
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1616145749

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During the first dozen years of the twenty-first century, apocalyptic anticipation in America has leapt from the cultish to the mainstream. Today, nearly 60 percent of Americans believe that the events foretold in the book of Revelation will come true. But many secular readers also seem hungry for catastrophe and have propelled books about peak oil, global warming, and the end of civilization into bestsellers. How did we come to live in a culture obsessed by the belief that the end is near? The Last Myth explains why apocalyptic beliefs are surging within the American mainstream today. Demonstrating that our expectation of the end of the world is a surprisingly recent development in human thought, the book reveals the profound influence of apocalyptic thinking on America’s past, present, and future.

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher : Vintage Canada
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 37,23 MB
Release : 2010-10-29
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0307367290

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What are myths? How have they evolved? And why do we still so desperately need them? A history of myth is a history of humanity, Karen Armstrong argues in this insightful and eloquent book: our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, link us to our ancestors and each other. This is a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense–from Palaeolithic times to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last 500 years–and why we dismiss it only at our peril.

Author : Robert Ellwood
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 183 pages
File Size : 22,95 MB
Release : 2008-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1847062342

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An accessible introduction to the complex topic of Myth. Ellwood examines theories, meanings and interpretations, all of which are structured around a typical programme of study.

Author : Greg Grandin
Publisher : Metropolitan Books
Page : 385 pages
File Size : 19,10 MB
Release : 2019-03-05
Category : History
ISBN : 1250179823

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From a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to Trump’s border wall. Ever since this nation’s inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States’ belief in itself as an exceptional nation—democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, though, America hasa new symbol: the border wall. In The End of the Myth, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier throughout the full sweep of U.S. history—from the American Revolution to the War of 1898, the New Deal to the election of 2016. For centuries, he shows, America’s constant expansion—fighting wars and opening markets—served as a “gate of escape,” helping to deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But this deflection meant that the country’s problems, from racism to inequality, were never confronted directly. And now, the combined catastrophe of the 2008 financial meltdown and our unwinnable wars in the Middle East have slammed this gate shut, bringing political passions that had long been directed elsewhere back home. It is this new reality, Grandin says, that explains the rise of reactionary populism and racist nationalism, the extreme anger and polarization that catapulted Trump to the presidency. The border wall may or may not be built, but it will survive as a rallying point, an allegorical tombstone marking the end of American exceptionalism.

Author : J. W. Schulte Nordholt
Publisher :
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 48,39 MB
Release : 1995
Category : History
ISBN :

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The subject of this fascinating book is the rise, flourishing, and decline of the heliotropic myth, the centuries-old belief that all history is a succession of great civilizations developing, like the movement of the sun, from the East to the West. America is in this vision the last empire, indeed, the fulfillment of history. Esteemed historian Jan Willem Schulte Nordholt draws on works of world poetry and other sources in describing the importance of the heliotropic myth and shows how the expectation of a final completion of history gave meaning and coherence to our civilization and how the mythic yearning for a better world drove our ancestors to distant lands ever farther westward. Now in the twentieth century, with all western horizons gone and the realities of societal life - even in America - not so utopian, we no longer dare to believe in the values of the West and prefer to live instead with an extraordinarily tolerant cultural relativism. With the approach of the new millennium - once predicted by the heliotropic myth to be a time of brilliant living - Schulte Nordholt's work not only offers a perspective that will enhance all areas of study in American and world history, but provokes a fresh desire for the real meaning of human history.

Author : Laurence Coupe
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 25,58 MB
Release : 2009-01-08
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 1134107773

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Offering a concise and illuminating introduction to the most important areas of myth, this fully updated and revised second edition contains new chapters and student-friendly features. Essential reading for students of any level wanting an introduction to the area.

Author : Lowell Edmunds
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 40,15 MB
Release : 2021-04-06
Category : History
ISBN : 3110696207

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This volume provides a guide to research in the field of Greek Myth, introducing the main questions, theories and methods related to the study of Greek Myth today. The author points out, with critical reappraisal, the key themes and ideas in recent scholarship and makes suggestions for future lines of study. Aimed at students and scholars in Classics, it will also be of interest to larger audiences in the Humanities.