Edith Hamilton's Mythology

First published in 1942 and continuously in print ever since, Edith Hamilton's compendium remains the defining single-volume introduction to Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology for English-language readers. Hamilton retells the stories from primary sources — Homer, Hesiod, Ovid, the Greek tragedians — in prose that is elegant without being stiff, making the Olympians, the great heroes, and the Norse gods genuinely accessible. It has been a standard high school and college text for over eighty years for good reason. Faith families should know that mythology is pagan religious material, and some stories involve violence, mature themes, and sexual content presented in classical literary terms; it is best suited for readers twelve and up who approach it as cultural literacy. The Norse section is thinner than the Greek and Roman coverage, and some Hamilton source interpretations are dated by modern scholarship — but as a starting point, nothing else comes close.