How Narrative Shapes Culture and Society - by James E Siburt (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book explores-through myths, fairy tales, parables, and trickster figures-how everyday storytelling operates as a powerful cultural practice that shapes identity, exercises influence, and reveals the deep interplay between leadership, desire, and narrative power.

Book Synopsis

This book analyzes how everyday storytelling operates as a subtle yet powerful mode of influence, shaping identity, belief systems, and leadership across diverse cultural contexts.
Bridging literary theory, cultural studies, and leadership practice, it offers an interdisciplinary examination of myths, fairy tales, parables, and trickster narratives to uncover the mechanisms through which stories embed and transmit power. With critical insight into the ideological and affective force of narrative, James E. Siburt reveals how even the most ordinary stories sustain social norms, seed collective values, and mirror the deep structures of human desire and meaning-making.

Review Quotes

"James Siburt describes and engages with the topics of story, myth, and fairy tales in a very personal and invitational style. This book draws the reader into the powers of storytelling, the Other, and in particular the concept of the trickster found in many origin tales and legends. A delightful read all around!" --Bradford Lee Eden, Tolkien scholar and medieval musicologist; Editor, Journal of Tolkien Research

About the Author

James E. Siburt is associate professor of sociology of leadership and the Director of Graduate Leadership at Immaculata University.