Merpeople: A Human History

A wide-ranging, beautifully illustrated history of mermaids and mermen from the classics to cosplay.

People have been fascinated by merpeople and merfolk since ancient times. From the sirens of Homer’s Odyssey to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid and the film Splash, myths, stories, and legends of half-human, half-fish creatures abound. In modern times ＂mermaiding＂ has gained popularity among cosplayers throughout the world. In Merpeople: A Human History, Vaughn Scribner traces the long history of mermaids and mermen, taking in a wide variety of sources and using 117 striking images. From film to philosophy, church halls to coffee houses, ancient myth to modern science, Scribner shows that mermaids and tritons are--and always have been--everywhere.

Vaughn Scribner is assistant professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas. He is the author of Inn Civility: Urban Taverns and Early American Civil Society.