Customer Reviews

Prisoner of History: Aspasia of Miletus and Her Biographical Tradition

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My first interest in this book was its classical history setting. As a former Classics student, I enjoyed the mix of history and biography. And as a woman, I was delighted that someone had written a biography of one of the most colorful women in antiquity. Aspasia is an astounding woman, and her life is finally put together for us in this unique biography. Ms. Henry covers a lot of ground for records of Aspasia are for the most part, fragmented and few. But there is enough evidence to cause us to think that if Aspasia lived the life that she did, then perhaps there were other women like her who will never be mentioned in books but who lived fully and sometimes on the fringe of society. What is most noteworthy for me is the chapter on the post-classical critics and commentators who never drop the bias of their own time in trying to sort out the unusual aspects of the past. Unlike these biased historians, Ms. Henry is refreshingly objective and logical with her readers.

I suppose if you're an historical fiction fan you'd have to try this, but Henry's style is tedious and lacks humor. I fought my way into this book because I thought I needed to read it for a class, but it's full of loose ends an unexplored premeses.

This is not a book I would hand the casual reader of historical fiction lest they go screaming into the night after trying to chew and swallow the first two or three chapters.

My secret is I didn't get much farther. . .