Achieve Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power Of The Ancient Myths Created By Helen Morales Provided As EPub

bought this book simply because of the title and cover alone but when I picked it up and started reading I got so much more than that.
Classicist Helen Morales goes into issues we have today in our modern world and connects those with ancient history and myths.
I absolutely loved this and could not put the book down,

Atpages including the index it isn't a very long book so I only picked it up twice before finishing it but still that's pretty fast for me to finished any book so that only shows how absorbed I was.
This is a book with many different topics like toxic diet culture relating to Hippocrates to the women controllers of ancient Greece to modern day schools and principals regulating how teenage girls dress so as to not "distract" the male teachers and students to myth of Caeneus speaking to many transgenders today.
And much more like that,

This is by no means an easy book to read, There's a lot of talk about rape, racism, fatphobia, transphobia and many more hard and distressing content but nontheless it's also a powerful read.
Even when it doesn't feel like it, things are definitely changing and books like this are a part of that change.
I'm really glad I happened to spot it at the bookstore and buy it, It's for sure one of my favorite books of this year,

Witty as well as personal, Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths is an astute social commentary on the links between ancient mythological stories and current conversations on gender identity, racism, violence, sexuality and much more.
Everyone should give it a read! Helen Morales highlights troubling aspects of Greek and Roman mythology in a calltoaction to analyze and reimagine those myths for modern times.


As a classicist, I was familiar with most of the myths Morales examined, However, I was unaware of some of the toxic subcontext contained within them,

"My hope is that by tracing patterns and connections between ancient and modern beliefs and practices it will become easier to understand how misogyny operates and the ways in which classical antiquity plays a role although it is not the only player and this is not its only role in legitimating how misogyny operates today.
" pg

The stories we tell ourselves are powerful, It shapes our expectations for our communities and the roles we occupy within them, Joseph Campbell pointed this out for the last generation, Perhaps Helen Morales

will be the one to point it out for this one,

"The problem is that misogynist myths are more strongly culturally entrenched in our societies than myths that subvert them.
" pg

But all hope is not lost, Creators from books to film to music videos are taking these myths and making them their own.
With time, new interpretations will take hold,

"Antigone is rising, Antigones and Ismenes and Haemons are rising, " pg

Lest we forget, Morales reminds readers that ancient myths have been the inspiration for, among other things, "the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, trades union movements, Marxism, and the gay rights movement.
"

It is all about how we interpret and tell the myths with each passing generation.
Let's choose carefully. "By turning to the past, we can imagine our futures afresh, And that recognising the subversive power of ancient myths through reading the original stories closely and through enjoying their modern recreations and using them to inspire and support political activism can be both transformative and redemptive.
"

In Antigone Rising Helen Morales explores the connections between ancient Greek myths and today's modern world.
She writes about how many harmful practices, such as school dress codes, rape culture and environmental exploitation can be traced back to antiquity, and how myths have been used to legitimatise harmful ideologies such as sexism, racism, white supremacy and fascism.
But Morales also shines a light on how these myths have been read and told in ways that empower women, queer people and racial minorities, and how greek mythology can also inspire people to stand up to tyranny and make people feel seen.


Antigone Rising was an interesting and thoughtprovoking, yet still very easy and pleasant book to read.
The chapters and the various themes Morales explores inspired me to have conversations with my mother about mythology and its ties to our world, and how myths have been used throughout ages to promote harmful, but also revolutionary and positive agendas.


Some of the chapters were about things I was already aware of or have read previously about, but there was so much new information for me! I had no idea Hippocrates is used so often in diet books and guides, and that his writings have been so misinterpreted to support fatshaming and our culture's general idea that being thin is the only acceptable and healthy way to live.
I had also never heard of Diana, the Hunter of Bus Drivers, who was a mexican vigilante woman who killed bus drivers as a protest against the common sexual violence women experience on buses her vigilante persona was modelled after the goddess Artemis, who was a protector of women and girls.


I enjoyed chapterabout Hippocrates and dieting, chapterabout Beyoncé's use of mythology and goddessimagery as a way to protest and highlight black beauty and womanhood, chapterabout queerness and mythology, and how many greek myths despite many of the stories having some, from our modern POV, problematic aspects have inspired and continue to empower queer people, and chapterabout rape culture and how many false myths about rape and women can be traced straight back to antiquity like this myth that women lie about being raped see the story of Phaedra the most interesting ones in the book.
There wasn't a chapter that I disliked, but these were the most striking once,

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in greek mythology and how it can be and has been interpreted.
Morales' writing is easy to read and often very witty, and while she often discusses very serious and uncomfortable topics, her book was never uncomfortable to read! So little has changed in,years, how

Anyway, reviewed this for Shelf Awareness, will try to remember to share the link when it goes up.


Recommended for people who want an inclusive feminist examination of Greek mythology and their lasting impact on primarily Western humanity.