Folklore category: 2054 books

A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government takes the form of a debate between a spokesman for Western ideals of democracy and progress, and an advocate for adherence to traditional samurai values. Their discussion is moderated by the imperturbable Master Nankai, who loves nothing more than to drink...

Drawing on dramatic accounts by European colonials, and on detailed studies by folklorists and anthropologists, this work explores intriguing age-old Asian beliefs and claims that man-eating tigers and “little tigers,” or leopards alike, were in various ways supernatural. It is a serious work...

Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to accounts of how the world was created and got to be the way it is to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves. They include stories set down in nineteenth-century travelers' reports and...

The blind mendicant in Ukrainian folk tradition is a little-known social order, but an important one. The singers of Ukrainian epics, these minstrels were organized into professional guilds that set standards for training and performance. Repressed during the Stalin era, this is their story.

The English social thinker John Ruskin’s famous trilogy of lectures on the subject of Greek myths of 'Cloud and Storm': Athena Chalinitis (Athena in the Heavens), Athena Keramitis (Athena in the Earth) and Athena Ergane (Athena in the Heart).

The author of Campus Ghosts of Norman, Oklahoma teams up with a paranormal investigator to uncover the supernatural side of OKC. Oklahoma City boasts a rich heritage of gumption and perseverance, but there are many tales only whispered from shadows. A spectral woman may be seen in the upper...

A historian offers a ghoulish and ghostly tour of this legendary Nevada city—includes photos.   The flashing neon lights of Reno harbor a ghastly past. With its wide-open gambling, divorce laws, and around-the-clock casinos and bars, the Biggest Little City in the World was a rough and wild town...

Robert Graves, classicist, poet, and unorthodox critic, retells the Greek legends of gods and heroes for a modern audience And, in the two volumes of The Greek Myths, he demonstrates with a dazzling display of relevant knowledge that Greek Mythology is “no more mysterious in content than...

In this fascinating overview of the shape of myths throughout human civilization’s expansion, Joseph Campbell lays out an overview of both the origins and the evolution of our myths. Campbell wrote this essay just as he was launching his seminal Masks of God series. “The Historical Development...

Native Americans use storytelling to get to know one another, as well as, passing history and messages on to newer generations.  These stories are a heritage, but they will be known only as long as they are told. When someone ceases to tell a story, part of our cultural knowledge is gone. The...

For many hundreds of years, people wandered into the great northwest. They came from all directions across Canada and the United States. These early people were not only skilled farmers, they were also clever builders, engineers, and weavers. They loved games of skill. They created stories, songs...

This slender book, the last of twenty-nine written by Kathryn Tucker Windham over her long and productive life, will be an exquisitely bittersweet read for the many fans of the late storyteller and author from Selma, Alabama. In She, which Windham was putting the finishing touches on when she died...

This wonderful book contains 18 classic Brothers Grimm tales decorated profusely by the adored Mabel Lucie Atwell. There are many black and white line drawings and colour plates picturing her classic cherub like children and fairy creatures. Pook Press are working to republish these classic works...

The beautiful and powerful landscape of Scotland has always inspired awe in any traveller, in this book we look at the superstitions built up around this breath taking scenery. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly...