Joseph Campbell brought mythology to mass audiences, most notably in his conversations with Bill Moyers on PBS. In print and on television, his accessible and conversational tone riveted without “dumbing down.” His best-selling books, including The Power of Myth and Hero with a Thousand Faces are the rare blockbusters (well over a million copies sold) that are also scholarly classics.

While Campbell “covered the mythological waterfront,” he never focused a work on the Goddess. This, however, does not mean he didn’t have fresh and exciting things to say. In this provocative volume, he traces the evolution of the Feminine Divine from one Great Goddess to many, from Neolithic Old Europe to the Renaissance. He sheds new light on classical motifs and recognizes what is resonant in our day: that “the challenge is to flower as individuals, neither as biological archetypes, nor as personalities imitative of the male.”