For centuries fairy tales have been a powerful mode of passing cultural values onto our children, and for many these stories delight and haunt us from cradle to grave. But how have these stories become so powerful and why? This text is a social history of the fairy tale which seeks to frame our understanding of the role it plays in our lives. With the publication of this text, Jack Zipes shifts his focus to the social and historical roots of the classical tales. With coverage of the most significant writers and their works in Europe and North America from the 16th century to the beginning of the 20th century, this book is a significant contribution to the study of fairy tales. From the French Charles Perrault to the American L. Frank Baum and the German Hermann Hesse, Zipes explores the way in which particular authors used the genre of the fairy tale to articulate their personal desires, political views and aesthetic preferences in their particular social context.; At the core of this tour through the history of the fairy tale is Zipes desire to elucidate the role that the fairy tale has assumed in the civilizing process - the way it imparts values, norms and aesthetic taste to chil