History Myths

Mythology is the rich collection of stories called myths from cultures all over the world. They are stories about how the world was created and why certain things happen. Myths tell of gods, heroes, and events that a group believes, or at one time believed, to be real. Studying them is like following a map of the human imagination. At History Brought Alive, we have a passion for everything from the past. The books we write are full of fun facts and even more fun stories that will make you think about the past and our ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Spanning several centuries of history in the Pacific, The Legends and Myths of Hawaiʻi: Fables and Folk-Lore of a Strange People is a collection of Hawaiian stories that were preserved through the ages by oral tradition and documented for posterity by King David Kalākaua in 1887. This massive tome recalls the tales of chiefs and kings, explorers and pirates, prophets, sorceresses, and renegades. This is the first in a series of 22 parts.

In this critically acclaimed true crime tale of "welfare queen" Linda Taylor, a Slate editor reveals a "wild, only-in-America story" of political manipulation and murder (Attica Locke, Edgar Award-winning author). Part social history, part true-crime investigation, Josh Levin's mesmerizing book, the product of six years of reporting and research, is a fascinating account of American racism, and an exposé of the "welfare queen" myth, one that fueled political debates that reverberate to this day.

From surf music to hot-rod records to the sunny pop of the Beach Boys and the Mamas & the Papas, Hollywood Eden captures the fresh blossom of a young generation who came together in the epic spring of the 1960s to invent the myth of the California Paradise. Central to the story is a group of sun-kissed teens from the University High School class of 1959 - a class that included Jan & Dean, Nancy Sinatra, and future members of the Beach Boys - who came of age in Los Angeles at the dawn of a new golden era when anything seemed possible.

In his first book for young adults, best-selling author Walter Mosley deftly weaves historical and speculative fiction into a powerful narrative about the nature of freedom.

Using his father's watch as a key, Jake intends to return to Calypsos. Instead he's thrust into a strange desert land where he's joined by his friends Marika, Pindor, and Bach'uuk and his sister, Kady. As they try to figure out what to do next, a surprise attack by the beautiful young Princess Nefertiti takes them all captive. Soon even she is battling the Skull King's minions. For Jake has something the Skull King wants - a prize that will give its owner awesome power, including control of the fearsome Howling Sphinx.

Many people think of the Greek or the Romans when they think of mythology, but the Chinese have an extensive history of myths and mysterious beliefs in the supernatural. In this guide, you will become acquainted with the most common stories and gods from the orient. Stories and legends such as the eight immortals, the war between the gods, the famous story of the monkey king, the alchemist, the Yen Ch’ eng god, and so many others will blow you away.

Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman army. This dramatic event, which took place on top of Masada, a barren and windswept mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, spawned a powerful story of Jewish resistance that came to symbolize the embattled modern State of Israel. Jodi Magness, an archaeologist who has excavated at Masada, explains what happened there, how we know it, and how recent developments might change understandings of the story.

Pindar was one of the greatest lyric poets of ancient Greece. He is best known today for his odes to the victors of athletic contests, including those at famed Olympia. These odes, the only complete surviving pieces by Pindar, are marvels of sustained imagination, packed with dense parallels between the athletic victor, his illustrious aristocratic ancestors, and the myths of Olympian gods and heroes like Jason, Heracles, and Perseus.

Whether sitting down with a militia member seeking to protect his rural Utah town from Antifa or talking with grassroots organizers working across ideological divides, Gaines Quammen brings to life connections and contradictions that shape our politics and our lives far beyond the West.

We live in a gendered world, where we are ceaselessly bombarded by messages about sex and gender. On a daily basis, we face deeply ingrained beliefs that sex determines our skills and preferences, from toys and colors to career choice and salaries. But what does this constant gendering mean for our thoughts, decisions, and behavior? And what does it mean for our brains? Drawing on her work as a professor of cognitive neuroimaging, Gina Rippon unpacks the stereotypes that surround us from our earliest moments and shows how these messages mold our ideas of ourselves.

We all know the great American origin story: It begins with an exodus. Fleeing religious persecution, the hardworking, pious Pilgrims thrived in the wilds of New England, where they built their fabled "shining city on a hill". Legend goes that the colony in Jamestown was a false start, offering a cautionary tale of lazy louts who hunted gold till they starved and shiftless settlers who had to be rescued by English food and the hard discipline of martial law.

In the heart of Gary, Indiana, three adventurous siblings named Leah, Nasir, and Kingston roamed the bustling streets every summer day. Leah, a curious and resourceful girl with a passion for books, led the way. Nasir, her older brother, was a tech-savvy boy with a love for puzzles, while Kingston, the youngest of the trio, was a fearless and imaginative boy who dreamed of becoming a superhero, yet wise enough to know that being a hero doesn’t require powers but selflessness and bravery. After their parents banned electronics for a week. One sunny afternoon, as they explored a seldom-...

Download this audiobook to take a trip through Brazil’s past and explore its most exciting legends!

Nils Holgersson is a naughty boy who pulls the tails of cats and trips up his mother while she is carrying the milk pail. Then one day he discovers he has been magically turned into a tiny imp. He climbs on the back of a gander and takes off with a flock of wild geese as they fly over Sweden, soaring above patchwork fields, through storms, to castles and lakes and even to a city under the sea. As he learns about the world, he also learns what it means to care for living things, in Selma Lagerlöf's timeless and beloved fable.

The civilizations that grew up in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys many thousands of years ago have left important legacies: agriculture, mathematics, astronomy, the wheel, and writing. This present volume of Mesopotamian myths is divided into three sections.

This is the touching story of the benevolent naturalist who roamed the Ohio valley in the early 1800s, planting apple orchards, making friends, and spreading goodwill along his way. Known to early settlers as a gentle soul with a reverence for all life, Johnny never missed a chance to save an abandoned animal or to savor a delicious apple pie. Garrison Keillor's narration is accompanied by original music by Mark O'Connor. Ages five and up.

The great city of Troy is under siege as Greek heroes Achilles and Agamemnon wage bloody war over a stolen woman. In the Greek camp, another woman is watching and waiting: Briseis. She was a queen of this land until Achilles sacked her city and murdered her husband and sons. Now she is Achilles' concubine: a prize of battle. Briseis is just one among thousands of women backstage in this war - the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead - all of them voiceless in history.

Have you ever encountered a noblewoman who was so beautiful that every time she walked by a body of water, the divine being who lived there kidnapped her? Or a mole who wanted to marry his beloved daughter to the wind? You will get to meet both of them in this audiobook. Changes in religious belief across the centuries came to have an important impact on Korean mythology. The earliest religion was a form of shamanism, and the belief in gods and spirits who inhabit animals and mountains come to the fore in several of these tales.

From the chart-topping podcast The Rest is History, a whistle-stop tour through the past – from Alexander the Great to Agatha Christie, the Wars of the Roses to Watergate. The nation’s favourite historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask. Whether it is sending historical figures to Casa Amor in a series of Love Island, ranking history’s most famous eunuchs and pigeons, or debating the meaning of greatness, there is nothing too big or too small for Tom and Dominic to unpick.