Greek mythology’s mightiest hero faces the world’s most fearsome beasts, monsters, and demons

Hercules, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, was the greatest of the Greek heroes and the strongest man on earth. Three times as big as his fully mortal twin, and imbued with extraordinary courage and ingenuity, Hercules began his remarkable feats while still in the cradle. Zeus’s wife, the goddess Hera, jealously schemed to kill Hercules, but the resourceful half-man, half-god escaped her traps and accomplished seemingly impossible tasks. Renowned mythologist Bernard Evslin recounts the famous twelve labors of Hercules, as the warrior tries to break Hera’s curse by facing down the Nemean Lion, killing the many-headed Hydra, outwitting the giant Anteus, and more.

Bernard Evslin (1922–1993) was a bestselling and award-winning author known for his works on Greek and other cultural mythologies. The New York Times called him "one of the most widely published authors of classical mythology in the world." He was born in New Rochelle, New York, and attended Rutgers University. After several years working as a playwright, screenwriter, and documentary producer, he began publishing novels and short stories in the late 1960s. During his long career, Evslin published more than seventy books—over thirty of which were for young adults. His bestseller Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths has been translated into ten different languages and has sold more than ten million copies worldwide. He won the National Education Association Award in 1961, and in 1986 his book Hercules received the Washington Irving Children’s Book Choice Award. Evslin died in Kauai, Hawaii, at the age of seventy-seven.