From the Publisher
“This book is a triumph! All of human nature is beautifully and strikingly portrayed in this magnificent retelling of the Greek myths. Readers will find here everything they could possibly want—intrigue, love, lust, revenge, and every sort of behavior, both good and bad. It would be hard to find a better introduction to that vast body of tales or a better written one.”—Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series“In the venerable tradition of Edith Hamilton, Sarah Iles Johnston retells the classical tales of ancient Greek mythology with verve and a storyteller’s passion. This is a book readers should turn to—and return to often—to appreciate anew these myths in all their grandeur and complexity.”–Adrienne Mayor, author of Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities“Move over, Edith Hamilton! Sarah Iles Johnston has hit the magical refresh button on Greek myths. Presto, the tales sparkle and shine for a new generation of readers. Like the poets, bards, and rhapsodes of ancient times, Johnston reminds us that there is no single, authoritative version of a myth and that stories are kept alive by adding new ingredients to the old, improving their flavor, zest, and aroma.”—Maria Tatar, author of The Heroine with 1001 Faces“Gods and Mortals is a remarkable achievement, a rare combination of great storytelling and deft scholarship. It reads like a novel, with many nested plots, but it is suffused with deep knowledge of the texts. You can read it front to back as a single story, or you can dip in to check what the ancients really wrote about the Titans or that Trojan horse. Johnston has become our best guide to these myths—to what they are and how their characters come to feel alive to people.”—T. M. Luhrmann, author of How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others“Gods and Mortals is a brilliantly executed narration of ancient Greek myth. Johnston outdoes her predecessors, like Bulfinch, Hamilton, and Graves, in the unadorned clarity of her presentation. The book is masterful and promises to help steer a widening interest in this precious body of terrifically good stories.”—Peter Struck, author of Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Classical Antiquity