Once upon a Time There Was Truth or, Why We Need Fairy Tales by Jack Zipes

Fairy tales take us to a world where magic is commonplace, where wishing works, where the conflicts in our hearts are literalized in the world around us. The living, vibrant, democratic genre of the fairy tale draws stories from people and places all over the globe, and spreads them just as broadly. Yet in a world exhausted by war, famine, climate devastation, and political strife, are these tales still valid? Are they merely an escape, or are they something more? In Once upon a Time There Was Truth (Yale University Press, 2026), folklorist Jack Zipes argues that fairy tales remain relevant and powerful, that they still speak truth to power. Indeed, he writes, we cannot do without them.

In this collection of essays on such beloved tales as “Hansel and Gretel” and “Puss in Boots”; on the authors L. Frank Baum, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and the Brothers Grimm; and on the dubious influence of Disney, Zipes introduces readers to the history of the fairy tale and explores why the stories retain such a fierce hold on our imagination. He argues vigorously for the fighting utopian spirit the tales uphold—something our world sorely needs.

Jack Zipes is professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota. He has edited more than twenty collections of fairy tales and many books about fairy tales and children’s stories. He also translates tales, including The Wounded Storyteller: The Traumatic Tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann.