The Heroic Ideal

The word “hero” seems in its present usage, an all-purpose moniker applied to everyone from Medal of Honor recipients to celebrities to comic book characters. This book explores the Western idea of the hero, from its initial use in ancient Greece, where it identified demigods or aristocratic, mortal warriors, through today. Sections examine the concept of the hero as presented in the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds. Special attention is paid to particular heroic types, such as warriors, martyrs, athletes, knights, saints, scientists, rebels, secret servicemen, and even anti-heroes. This book also reconstructs how definitions of heroism have been inextricably linked to shifts in Western thinking about religion, social relations, political authority, and ethical conduct. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

M. Gregory Kendrick is a professor of modern European history and director of the UCLA Freshman Cluster Program at the University of California in Los Angeles.

M. Gregory Kendrick

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 236
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3786-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5751-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi

Introduction     1

PART ONE. MYRMIDONS, MARTYRS, AND MUSCLE MEN: HEROISM IN THE ANCIENT WORLD      5

1. Neither Human nor Divine: The Hemitheoi and Their Cults      9

2. “Of arms and the man I sing”: The Hero as Myrmidon      13

3. “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise”: The Hero as Martyr      24

4. “Creatures of a Day”: The Hero as Athlete      50

PART TWO. SOLDIERS AND SERVANTS OF CHRIST: HEROISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES      65

5. Miles Christi: The Hero as Warrior of Christ      69

6. Imitatio Christi: The Hero as Saint      88

PART THREE. REBELS, ROGUES, AND REPROBATES: HEROISM IN THE MODERN WORLD      105

7. “To boldly go where no one has gone before”: The Hero as Explorer      107

8. “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom”: The Hero as Romantic Rebel      130

9. Black Angels and New Men: Heroism in a Totalitarian Context      146

10. Rogues, Reprobates, Outcasts, and Oddballs: The Anti-Hero      184

Epilogue      201

Chapter Notes      205

Bibliography      219

Index      227

• “Fascinating…highly recommended”—Choice