As is especially obvious with the novels examined immediately above, the use and reuse of mythology remains vibrant and imaginative. Modern authors have taken the kernels of myths and recast them so as to give new perspectives and new voices, often with a social purpose in mind, such as promoting the status of women or highlighting the destructiveness of war. These novels demonstrate that no matter how old these mythological stories are, they can be seen in new ways that make them relevant to the present. So too is the case with scholarship: although there is always the risk of reading modern thought into antiquity—a perennial problem in historical studies—it is also true that new cultural concerns provide fresh and useful vantage points from which to approach myths that have fascinated audiences for more than two millennia.