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The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) Hardcover – July 28, 2008

by Joseph Campbell (Author)

6,773 ratings

Part of: The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell (18 books)

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Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell’s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In these pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.

As part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, this third edition features expanded illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, and more accessible sidebars.

As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Faces continues to find new audiences in fields ranging from religion and anthropology to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artistsincluding authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakersand continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories.

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	GODDESSES	PATHWAYS TO BLISS	THE HERO’S JOURNEY	THE ECSTASY OF BEING	MYTH AND MEANING

Customer Reviews	465	588	1,228	64	19
Price	$18.97	$13.17	$71.38	$15.43	$19.80
The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell	Traces the evolution of the Feminine Divine from one Great Goddess to many.	Shows how myth can help each of us truly identify and follow our bliss.	Reveals and illuminates Campbell’s personal and intellectual journey.	Campbell’s writings on dance and art.	A wide-ranging collection of insights from Joseph Campbell

Editorial Reviews

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“I have returned to no other book more often since leaving college than this one, and every time I discover new insight into the human journey. Every generation will find in Hero wisdom for the ages.”
— Bill Moyers

“In the three decades since I discovered The Hero with a Thousand Faces, it has continued to fascinate and inspire me. Joseph Campbell peers through centuries and shows us that we are all connected by a basic need to hear stories and understand ourselves. As a book, it is wonderful to read; as illumination into the human condition, it is a revelation.”
— George Lucas

“Campbell’s words carry extraordinary weight, not only among scholars but among a wide range of other people who find his search down mythological pathways relevant to their lives today....The book for which he is most famous, The Hero with a Thousand Faces [is] a brilliant examination, through ancient hero myths, of man’s eternal struggle for identity.”
— Time

“In the long run, the most influential book of the twentieth century may turn out to be Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.”
— Christopher Vogler

"Watching [Campbell] perform these staggering acts of synthesis—he’ll toss together, say, Jungian archetype, Sumerian mythology, the Roman Apuleius, shamanism and Lancelot into the space of a few pages—is breathtaking.”
— Anthony Doerr

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ New World Library
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 28, 2008
Edition ‏ : ‎ Second
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1577315936
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1577315933
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 1.4 x 8.6 inches
Part of series ‏ : ‎ The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell

Best Sellers Rank: #3,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Screenwriting (Books)
- #3 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #3 in Popular Psychology Psychoanalysis

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Joseph Campbell

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Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) was an American author and teacher best known for his work in the field of comparative mythology. He was born in New York City in 1904, and from early childhood he became interested in mythology. He loved to read books about American Indian cultures, and frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where he was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles. Campbell was educated at Columbia University, where he specialized in medieval literature, and continued his studies at universities in Paris and Munich. While abroad he was influenced by the art of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, the novels of James Joyce and Thomas Mann, and the psychological studies of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. These encounters led to Campbell's theory that all myths and epics are linked in the human psyche, and that they are cultural manifestations of the universal need to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities.

After a period in California, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, he taught at the Canterbury School, and then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 40s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He also edited works by the German scholar Heinrich Zimmer on Indian art, myths, and philosophy. In 1944, with Henry Morton Robinson, Campbell published A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake. His first original work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, came out in 1949 and was immediately well received; in time, it became acclaimed as a classic. In this study of the "myth of the hero," Campbell asserted that there is a single pattern of heroic journey and that all cultures share this essential pattern in their various heroic myths. In his book he also outlined the basic conditions, stages, and results of the archetypal hero's journey.

Throughout his life, he traveled extensively and wrote prolifically, authoring many books, including the four-volume series The Masks of God, Myths to Live By, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space and The Historical Atlas of World Mythology. Joseph Campbell died in 1987. In 1988, a series of television interviews with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, introduced Campbell's views to millions of people.

For more on Joseph Campbell and his work, visit the web site of Joseph Campbell Foundation at JCF.org.

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Customers find this book to be a fascinating and rewarding read, particularly valuable for aspiring writers, with one noting it's well worth the investment of time and study. Moreover, they appreciate its comprehensive exploration of mythology through compelling excerpts from folk tales, and its straightforward approach to character development. However, the book receives mixed feedback regarding its density, with several customers describing it as extremely dense.

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Readability Insight Mythology Author style Value for money Character development Density

333 customers mention "Readability"241 positive92 negative

Customers find the book fascinating and brilliant, particularly noting it as a must-read for aspiring writers. One customer mentions it is well worth the investment of time and study.

"...In this seminal work of comparative mythology, renowned author and professor of literature Joseph Campbell points to the universal motifs pervading..." Read more

"...Finally, Campbell's introductory chapter is beautifully written and poetic, as he describes how these myths can illuminate and illustrate our own..." Read more

"...to track this story-telling process in so many cultures is also pretty neat, and shows how universal human nature seems to be, even when it comes to..." Read more

"...Although Campbell's research and evidence he presents is valid and compelling, the intellectual manner in which he presents it, may be confusing to..." Read more

150 customers mention "Insight"129 positive21 negative

Customers find the book insightful and informative, describing it as a phenomenal piece of research, with one customer noting its well-researched philosophical background.

"...It contains a lot of good information." Read more

"...More importantly, however, Campbell reveals with profound depth of insight why these diverse stories can be so convincingly compounded...." Read more

"...scope of material at hand, Campbell offers readers a well-curated overview of various traditional depictions of the quintessential hero...." Read more

"...The book contains endnotes, footnotes, an index and a bibliography divided in four parts: his main bibliography, editions of sacred texts he cited,..." Read more

114 customers mention "Mythology"92 positive22 negative

Customers appreciate the book's exploration of mythology, noting it contains compelling excerpts from folk tales and provides perceptive insights into stories. One customer mentions it explains almost all fiction ever written, while another notes it pairs well with The Power of Myth.

"...on this book is as follows: If you’re a student of religion, mythology or philosophy, or if you are a writer (whether of music, poetry, or fiction),..." Read more

"...This text is a must-read for those interested in mythology, folklore, and cultural anthropology." Read more

"...explored is the monomyth of the hero’s journey: such a compelling outline of popular tales throughout the ages that it has inspired modern stories..." Read more

"...In this “composite adventure,” as he calls it, the author relates “the tales of a number of the world’s symbolic carriers of the destiny of Everyman...." Read more

18 customers mention "Author style"15 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the author's straightforward writing style, with one customer noting it is carefully prepared by a knowledgeable editor, while others find it very complex.

"..."The Hero with a Thousand Faces," is written in a very straightforward and scholarly style...." Read more

"...This new edition has been carefully prepared by a knowledgeable editor and includes a rich biography...." Read more

"...The hardback is worth the price, effort, and wait time (hard backs do not, unfortunately arrive in your kindle or kindle app within a minute or two)...." Read more

"...I have not finished it yet, but so far is incredible. Very complex, you must have at least a background in psychology, antropology, mythology and..." Read more

18 customers mention "Value for money"18 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a great value, with one mentioning it's worth all the time invested.

"...That fact is worth the price of the book alone...." Read more

"It was written in throughout but no big deal for the price. I can read it and now I have a copy of a classic!" Read more

"...If you are a writer, then this is a must have. The hardback is worth the price, effort, and wait time..." Read more

"...times, and gaining that new perspective alone has been worth the price of the book." Read more

15 customers mention "Character development"15 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's character development, particularly how it explores different heroes and their psychology, and serves as a great tool for character creation.

"...Famously, he determines specific characteristics about the hero and his or her journey, hence the term (coined by Campbell) familiar to readers and..." Read more

"The book is good and full of examples of heros with a thousand faces...." Read more

"...There's even information on the stories of religious heroes in here...." Read more

"...It has been mentioned that this can help with character development in writing. I couldn't read it...." Read more

9 customers mention "Density"0 positive9 negative

Customers find the book extremely dense.

"...It is dense and not for those lacking in perseverance, but such a treasure trove of material is packed into one book...." Read more

"A bit too dense and discursive for me...." Read more

"...A true work of genius! It is definitely academic and dense so I had to take in in in digestible chunks, but it is a book I will be returning to..." Read more

"It is dense as most of his work is. It needs to be read when you can concentrate and digest is messages." Read more

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Peter M
Look at life differently
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2025
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Jeremy David Stevens
The Karate Kid and The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2018
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All the way back in 1949, Joseph Campbell wrote a book titled The Hero With a Thousand Faces. The book contains hundreds of examples of stories from a wide range of mythology, including those from Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Native American, and Greek (and countless other) canons.

Campbell identifies similarities in style as well as structure between the great adventure stories/mythologies throughout human history. Famously, he determines specific characteristics about the hero and his or her journey, hence the term (coined by Campbell) familiar to readers and writers alike, The Hero’s Journey. In effect, there is a very specific set of rules governing what makes a great story. And just in case I wasn’t certain of the extent of Campbell’s research, the book contains over forty pages of endnotes and other references. The man put in the research time.

Reading The Hero With a Thousand Faces came at the perfect time for me. I’d heard of it and seen it recommended to me on Amazon for quite some time, but I never took the time to actually read it. Actually, I “Wikipedia’d” it a few times, but that was the extent of that. But in finally reading the book, Campbell has helped me understand much better some of the ideas that I’ve been working out in my weekly “Books of the Bible” review posts. If you’ve read any of my recent Bible book reviews, you’ll immediately recognize that Campbell has already clearly written what I’m still trying to figure out for myself. For example:

“For the symbols of mythology are not manufactured; they cannot be ordered, invented or permanently suppressed. They are spontaneous productions of the psyche…”

Powerful stuff.

Here are the rules governing the first great stage of the adventure story (some of it is paraphrased in my own words):

The Call to Adventure
Initial Refusal to Heed the Call
Supernatural Aid/Mentor/“Old Man” (Old man is a direct quote from Campbell.)
Crossing the First Threshold
Belly of the Whale (The Point When the Hero’s Death/Ultimate Failure seems Certain)

Truly, Exodus would have been the perfect story to compare with Campbell’s ruleset, but I just wrote a review of Exodus last week, so I wanted to do something different. The Karate Kid might just might be the most perfect modern example of them all (and one of my favorite movies). So I thought it might be interesting to see just how closely the writers of this movie follow Campbell’s rules.

Young New Jersey native Daniel is called to the great land of adventure (California) by his mother. He hates it there (his initial macro-reluctance to heed the call) and would like nothing more than to move back home. The only saving grace (besides a pretty girl) is a mentor (Mr. Myagi) that he meets when he arrives. After getting into some trouble with the local bullies, Daniel’s mentor signs him up for a karate tournament. Daniel is mortified and has no faith in his ability to survive a karate tournament like that (Micro-reluctance to Heed the Call), “I cannot believe… what you got me into back there!”

But Daniel does as his mentor says and enters the tournament anyway (Crossing the First Threshold), where he manages to make it to the semifinals, further than he ever dreamed, before even hitting a snag. When he gets there, young bully Bobby cheats in a most despicable manner, kicking Daniel directly in the knee, damaging Daniel’s body seemingly beyond repair (into the Belly of the Whale, i.e., Daniel’s ultimate defeat seems certain). But just as soon as all hope is lost, Daniel’s mentor heals his leg through supernatural methods and Daniel comes back to win the tournament, his dignity, and the girl. Indeed, it’s a Hero’s Journey almost worthy of Moses.

Note: There are other rules and further stages to the story that I haven’t included in this short review, but it seems to me that these are certainly the essential components to the modern story. Maybe some other time, I can write about the further stages and which stories they apply to (Lord of the Rings comes to mind).

My final say on this book is as follows: If you’re a student of religion, mythology or philosophy, or if you are a writer (whether of music, poetry, or fiction), read this book. It contains a lot of good information.

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Essential Reading for Cultural Historians
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2021
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In his 1949 book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” literary scholar and cultural anthropologist Joseph Campbell outlines his theory of the monomyth through a comparative study of world mythology and folklore using psychological and anthropological methods. In his original preface, Campbell writes, “There are of course differences between the numerous mythologies and religions of mankind, but this is a book about the similarities; and once these are understood the differences will be found to be much less great than is popularly (and politically) supposed” (pg. xiii). He hoped that such a study would help those seeking to support unification and “human mutual understanding” in the immediate postwar and early Cold War years.

Describing the role of mythology in societies across time, Campbell writes, “It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward, in counteraction to those constant human fantasies that tend to tie it back” (pg. 7). He continues, “The archetypes to be discovered and assimilated are precisely those that have inspired, throughout the annals of human culture, the basic images of ritual, mythology, and vision” (pg. 14). Laying out the structure of the monomyth – and the hero’s journey – Campbell writes, “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man” (pg. 23). Campbell continues, “There will be found astonishingly little variation in the morphology of the adventure, the character roles involved, the victories gained. If one or another of the basic elements of the archetypal pattern is omitted from a given fairy tale, legend, ritual, or myth, it is bound to be somehow or other implied – and the omission itself can speak volumes for the history and pathology of the example” (pg. 30). In addition to summarizing elements of mythology and folklore from throughout the world, Campbell draws upon Freud, Jung, and psychoanalysis in his examination of the tropes common to the hero’s journey. Though these theories no longer play a large role in contemporary psychology, English and literature scholars continue to draw upon them even now.

Even those unfamiliar with “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” will find the text familiar. Campbell’s work has influenced several storytellers from the mid-twentieth century onward, with George Lucas as the most notable. According to journalist Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell said that “the best student he ever had was George Lucas.” Elements of the monomyth run through “Star Wars” for those looking at the story structure. This text is a must-read for those interested in mythology, folklore, and cultural anthropology.

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N
great book
Reviewed in the Netherlands on November 7, 2024
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awesome

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Bernardo
A must read
Reviewed in Spain on July 8, 2023
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A must read. I recommend it as a storyteller and as a person who enjoys reading.

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V-rock
Brilliant
Reviewed in India on January 28, 2024
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As all his works, this was just as brilliant a read as his Power Of Myth series

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Lau♡
Excelente producto 👍🏼
Reviewed in Mexico on December 1, 2024
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Excelente producto 👍🏼

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Marc John
A work of pure genius!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2006
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The key to understanding this classic book, and getting the most from it, is to realise that it's actually all about YOU. Campbell wrote it for YOU. Just think about the title for a start. YOU are the hero and your hero's journey is all about finding your inner life, your divine spark, and being engulfed and re-born out of it. This is what all the world's great hero myths were really talking about, symbolically, and Campbell brilliantly draws together the universal themes and parallels running through all the world's mystical and religious traditions, all of which were concerned (when understood metaphorically instead of literally) with this marvellous "death and resurrection" of the human psyche - from human animal to divine incarnation. It's a heroic deed which we all have the potential to achieve, and this book vibrantly and beautifully recollects many anicent stories that have drawn Mankind's imagination toward this very real transformation, through the use of the oldest and best means at our disposal - symbolic storytelling. This book is not just for the student or teacher of mythology or comparative religion, it's for everyone on the spiritual path. In fact, this book speaks directly to you wherever you are right now in life, whether on that path or not. Simply brilliant, and possibly the most important book of the 20th century. Even the full five star rating is not enough!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Look at life differently

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5.0 out of 5 stars great book

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Look at life differently

The Karate Kid and The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Essential Reading for Cultural Historians

great book

A must read

Brilliant

Excelente producto 👍🏼

A work of pure genius!