Joseph Campbell was arguably the most popular writer on myth in the late twentieth century. His most famous work is The Power of Myth, an overview of how mythology is relevant to contemporary life. The book was based on a six-part series that Campbell did for Public Television with Bill Moyers. It was published in 1991 by Anchor.

Readers who are interested in Frazer's historical place as a student of myths can find out the state of the discipline before him in The Rise of Modern Mythology, 1680-1860. In this 1972 volume, authors Burton Feldman and Robert D. Richards give biographies of and samples from the great writers about myth, from Bernard Fontenelle (1657-1757) to Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862).

In Myth: Its Meaning and Function, G. S. Kirk deals with weaknesses he found in works by Frazer and his followers: those of...