Mythologies of the World
By Michael McKenzie, Maggie Bolton, Ray Dunning, Lisa George, Katja Goebs, Erica C D Hunter, Richard Prime, Veronica Strang
Wayland pound;15.99

In the American state of Washington is a near full-size replica of Stonehenge - a memorial to local men who died in the First World War. The authors of this book say it has “mythic power”. Yes, but in the eyes of the present-day visitor, does that power derive simply from its curiosity value; from some sort of ongoing prehistoric significance, or from the intentions of its 20th-century builders?

This question illustrates the dilemmas facing the modern student of mythology. Once, it was normal to regard alien myths as quaintly primitive, anti-scientific and irrational. Now we are encouraged to appreciate their symbolic and continuing validity. We have learned, for example, to respect African tribal religions and the beliefs of Native Americans. So, to take other examples, does that make the Norse and Roman myths as valid as the stories of the Hindu gods?

This book aims to answer such questions and promote “cultural understanding”. But to whom? Published under a children’s imprint, it has the look of a children’s information book: double-page spreads, a profusion of subsidiary panels, photographs, drawings and maps. But the introduction, with its talk of post-modernism, theodicy and cosmogony, does nothing for accessibility to young readers.

The main section, which retells some of the world’s most important myths, region by region, and places them in their historical context, is another matter. This makes it a handy reference book for teachers and older students of literature and art, as well as a useful introduction to a serious study of mythology itself.

• Picture: the Virgin del Carmen festival, Peru