The Politics of Myth examines the political views implicit in the mythological theories of three of the most widely read popularizers of myth in the twentieth century, C. G. Jung, Mircea Eliade, and Joseph Campbell. All three had intellectual roots in the anti-modern pessimism and romanticism that also helped give rise to European fascism, and all three have been accused of fascist and anti-Semitic sentiments. At the same time, they themselves tended toward individualistic views of the power of myth, believing that the world of ancient myth contained resources that could be of immense help to people baffled by the ambiguities and superficiality of modern life.

Robert Ellwood details the life and thought of each mythologist and the intellectual and spiritual worlds within which they worked. He reviews the damaging charges that have been made about their politics, taking them seriously while endeavoring to put them in the context of the individual's entire career and lifetime contribution. Above all, he seeks to extract from their published work the view of the political world that seems most congruent with it.

神话的政治》研究了二十世纪三位最广泛阅读的神话普及者C.G.荣格、米尔恰-埃利亚德和约瑟夫-坎贝尔的神话理论中所隐含的政治观点。这三个人都有反现代悲观主义和浪漫主义的思想根基，这也有助于欧洲法西斯主义的兴起，而且这三个人都被指控有法西斯主义和反犹太主义的情绪。同时，他们自己也倾向于对神话力量的个人主义看法，认为古代神话世界所包含的资源可以对被现代生活的模糊性和肤浅性所困惑的人们提供巨大的帮助。

罗伯特-埃尔伍德详细介绍了每一位神话学家的生活和思想，以及他们所处的知识和精神世界。他回顾了对他们的政治提出的破坏性指控，在认真对待这些指控的同时，努力把它们放在个人的整个职业生涯和一生的贡献的背景中。最重要的是，他试图从他们发表的作品中提取与之最一致的政治世界观。