The American Monomyth
Book description
Sociology
Why read it?
1 author picked The American Monomyth as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
My introduction to world mythology was Joseph Campbell, who described a nearly universal narrative – or monomyth – in which a young man (such as Christ, Percival, or the Buddha) ventures from his land, defeats opponents or temptations and returns with a critical gift for his people.
America, however, inverted this myth in profoundly important ways. In our story, repeated over three centuries in thousands of sermons, novels, movies, television, and video games, an innocent and racially pure community is threatened by evil (usually non-white).
When democratic institutions fail to suppress the threat, a selfless superhero arrives – from elsewhere…
From Barry's list on American addiction to innocence.
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