The famed mythologist Joseph Campbell was an academic Renaissance man who mastered a wide variety of disciplines: anthropology, literature, depth psychology, religious studies, art history, and of course comparative mythology. The letters collected here, which include a broad array both by him and to him, reflect the astonishing diversity of his thinking, with correspondents extending far beyond the halls of academia. As volume editor Evans Lansing Smith writes, "That he could assimilate these materials and transmit the inner wisdom of so many of the world's spiritual and cultural traditions was the essence of his genius as a writer and an educator: one didn't simply get information about such subjects Kundalini Yoga and Buddhism; one experienced them directly, in flashes of inspired transmission, during the magical moments of his lectures." Selected Letters showcases dynamic exchanges between Campbell and a wide range of correspondents, from academics (Mircea Eliade, Henry Corbin), internationally famous anthropologists (Margaret Mead), journalists (Bill Moyers), and poets and novelists (Thomas Mann, Gary Snyder, Carolyn Kizer), literary critics (Stanley Hyman, Edmund Wilson, Ted Spivey), Orientalists (Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Hermann Goetz), and many others, including letters to and from Campbell's dearest friends (Angela Gregory, Ed Ricketts), some of the most personal and revealing. What unfolds is narrative made of letters, with multiple voices and points of view, dramatic conflict and resolution, character development, and even mystery. It is a portrait not just of Campbell, but of a remarkable generation of artists, dancers, filmmakers, musicians, spiritual seekers, poets and novelists, all engaged in the creative powers that mythology unleashes.