The book offers a critical introduction to the major theories of myth from the nineteenth century to the present day, covering comparative approaches, psychoanalysis, ritual theories, structuralism, and ideological analysis. A clear and accessible exposition of the founding theorists and their scientific, intellectual, and social contexts is combined with an analysis of each method's assumptions, goals, characteristic procedures, and relative strengths. Featuring sample readings of familiar myths, the book supplies readers with the theoretical tools for imitating each method.