Worth a Thousand Words: Cultural, Literary, and Political Proverb Studies

In 2014, Wolfgang Mieder published Behold the Proverbs of a People: Proverbial Wisdom in Culture, Literature, and Politics with the University Press of Mississippi. The book created an informative entry into the world of proverb scholarship, illustrating that proverbs have always been and continue to be wisdom's international currency. Picking up where Behold the Proverbs of a People left off, this new book brings traditional proverbs into the modern era, analyzing proverbs under four headings: American proverbs, proverbs in politics, proverbs in literature, and proverbs in culture. Within these sections, a wide array of proverbs and the topics they express are addressed and shown to still be relevant to the political and cultural landscape of today. Worth a Thousand Words discusses the global spread of American proverbs and the reliance of proverbs in politics and everyday life in America and internationally. It also examines proverbs in literature such as Don Quixote and Destined to Witness, as well as proverbs in fairy tales. Proving the pen is mightier than the sword, Mieder’s book demonstrates the ubiquity of proverbs. By recognizing and documenting the proverbial linguistic patterns of our culture, people, and systems, Mieder shows us how creative language serves as the guideposts for a free and idealistic world for ages past and ages to come. Read more