About the Book:

Don't Reinvent the Wheel! As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with the author's revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. This third edition features expanded illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, and more accessible sidebars.

In 1949, writer and scholar Joseph Campbell outlined the Hero's Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world's mythic traditions. His exhaustive study concluded that regardless of plot, all great stories throughout history share a very distinct and common structural foundation: The hero is introduced in his ordinary world; he receives a call to action; he refuses the call; a mentor convinces him to cross over the first threshold into the unknown; and so forth. Whether the story is out of the Bible, Star Wars, Beverly Hills Cop, or The Lion King, in this study of the myth of the hero Joseph Campbell shows that a handful of common elements can be found in virtually every timeless story. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces continues to find new audiences in fields ranging from religion and anthropology to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artists — including authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakers — and continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories.

What people say:

"I have returned to no other book more often since leaving college than this one, and every time I discover new insight into the human journey. Every generation will find in Hero wisdom for the ages." — Bill Moyers

"In the three decades since I discovered The Hero with a Thousand Faces, it has continued to fascinate and inspire me. Joseph Campbell peers through centuries and shows us that we are all connected by a basic need to hear stories and understand ourselves. As a book, it is wonderful to read; as illumination into the human condition, it is a revelation." — George Lucas

"Campbell's words carry extraordinary weight, not only among scholars but among a wide range of other people who find his search down mythological pathways relevant to their lives today....The book for which he is most famous, The Hero with a Thousand Faces [is] a brilliant examination, through ancient hero myths, of man's eternal struggle for identity." — Time Magazine

"In the long run, the most influential book of the twentieth century may turn out to be Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces." — Christopher Vogler

About the Author:

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer. Interested in mythology since his childhood in New York, when he read books about American Indians, he frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History, and was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Columbia in 1925 and 1927 and went on to study medieval French and Sanskrit at the universities of Paris and Munich. The many books by Professor Campbell rank among the classics in mythology and literature. Among his many awards, Campbell received the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Contribution to Creative Literature and the 1985 Medal of Honor for Literature from the National Arts Club. A past president of the American Society for the Study of Religion, Campbell was professor emeritus at Sarah Lawrence College in New York until his retirement in 1972 at which time he devoted himself to his writing.