World Mythology: A Very Short Introduction is organized around universal motifs: Creation the
Flood the Hero Quest the Trickster Culture Hero the Pantheons the High God and the Great
Goddess. David Leeming compares examples of each motif from a variety of cultures--Greek
Egyptian Norse American Indian African Polynesian Jewish Christian Hindu--treating them
as reflections of the cultures that dreamed them and exposing their universal significance
creating a world mythology.
