Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Dragons of the World: Legendary Serpents and Sky-Beasts from Every Continent

Dragons of the World: Legendary Serpents and Sky-Beasts from Every Continent

Newman, Mark

Paperback

Ancient History GeneralGeneral World History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN13: 9798185560648
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 48
Weight: 0.17
Height: 0.10 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Every culture that ever looked at a flood, a rainbow, or the edge of a map reached for the same shape: something enormous, coiling, and more powerful than any animal should be. This is the dragon - and it did not begin in Europe, and it was never just one creature.

Dragons of the World travels continent by continent through the genuine myths, religious texts, and living oral traditions that shaped humanity's greatest imaginary beast: the rain-controlling Dragon Kings of ancient China, the treasure-cursed wyrm that killed Beowulf, the world-encircling serpent of Norse prophecy, Wales's unbeaten Red Dragon, Mesopotamia's Tiamat - split in two to form the sky and the earth itself - the feathered serpent-god who taught the Aztec and Maya world to grow maize, and the earth-shaping Rainbow Serpents of West Africa and Aboriginal Australia, among the oldest religious images still recognized on the planet.

Along the way, this book asks the question most dragon books never do: why does this same shape recur, again and again, in cultures that had no way of copying one another? The answer - bound up in humanity's oldest, most complicated relationship with water, power, and the forces too large to fully control - reframes every dragon in this book, from the ones we were taught to fear to the ones we were taught to follow home.

Ten fully sourced chapters. A glossary of mythological terms. An annotated further-reading list for anyone who wants to go deeper. And, as a bonus tale for young readers, an original short story that captures everything this book is really about: what it costs to stop being afraid of something, long enough to actually listen to it.

Inside you'll find:

  • The real mythology behind China's Dragon Kings and the emperor's dragon throne
  • Why Japan's dragons are gods of the sea, not monsters to be slain
  • The true medieval origins of Saint George, Fafnir, and the treasure-hoard dragon
  • Norse prophecy, Slavic multi-headed terrors, and Wales's undefeated Red Dragon
  • Mesopotamia's Tiamat and the oldest dragon-slaying story ever recorded
  • The feathered serpent-god of the Aztec and Maya world
  • West Africa's Aido-Hwedo and Australia's Rainbow Serpent - landscape-shaping serpents from two unconnected continents
Bonus: Ember and the Last Rain, an original short story the whole family can read together

A village hasn't seen rain in over a year, and the village peddler is convinced he knows why: there's a dragon in the mountain, and it's holding the sky hostage. When young Mira climbs the mountain alone - not to fight the dragon, but to ask it a question - she finds something nobody expected: a lonely, grieving creature who stopped the rain the day it lost its oldest friend.

But when the peddler follows her up the mountain and returns with nets, ropes, and a village full of frightened neighbors, Mira has to do something braver than climbing a mountain - she has to stand between a terrified dragon and the people trying to drag it down, and prove that listening works better than force ever could. A warm, gently funny story about grief, trust, and what happens when someone finally asks the right question - perfect for reading aloud.

Also from

Newman, Mark

View All

Also in

General World History

View All